Dubliner Tanya Sweeney has a lot to celebrate as we ease into 2026. Her debut novel, Esther is Now Following You, has arrived in bookshops accompanied by the kind of pre-publicity and literary merch (badges and tote bags) most budding authors can only fantasise about. “Writing a novel was like a monkey on my back,” Sweeney says over coffee. “It was a massively stressful time, so anything creative went by the wayside and I fell into a bit of a depression about it all. Esther is Now Following You by Tanya Sweeney is published by Transworld

Source: The Irish Times January 18, 2026 09:01 UTC