Louise Kennedy's Second Novel 'Stations' Serialised on BBC Radio 4

Louise Kennedy's second novel, Stations, is currently being serialised on BBC Radio 4. The book follows Róisín and Red from County Kildare in 1982 to London over 25 years. Kennedy, who began writing at 47 after a friend invited her to a writing group in 2014, had no prior literary ambition. Her debut, Trespasses (2022), set during the Troubles, was adapted into a Bafta-nominated Channel 4 drama starring Gillian Anderson and Lola Petticrew. Kennedy, a former chef, was diagnosed with melanoma in 2019, which progressed to stage 4; after eight months of treatment, the cancer was gone, though health challenges persist. She has said writing helped her through the illness. Stations features Róisín, the unsympathetic teenager from Kennedy's 2021 short story collection The End of the World is a Cul-de-sac, and explores themes of emigration, accent, and identity. Kennedy left Northern Ireland at 12 in the 1970s, later moving to England in the 1980s for economic reasons. She notes parallels with the 1940s-50s Irish emigrants but says her generation was better educated with greater expectations. The novel's TV and film rights have been auctioned, but Kennedy is not involved in casting. She turns 60 next year and says everyone should 'give anything they fancy a lash'.