Author Interview: Alan McCormick
Q&A with the contributors from the latest issue of Hinterland - and news about our first online courses of 2026.
Alan McCormick lives in Wicklow. His writing has featured in many publications, including Best British Short Stories, The Lonely Crowd, Stinging Fly, Banshee, Southword, Swerve, Exacting Clam and Confingo; and online at Fictive Dream, Époque Press, Culture Matters, 3:AM Magazine, Dead Drunk Dublin and Trasna. His story ‘Fire Starter’ came second in 2022’s RTÉ Short Story Competition, and ‘Eric Lucastees’ came third in 2025’s Plaza Short Story Prize Damon Galgut. He’s recently completed his second story collection, and a series of memoir essays with the support of an Irish Arts Council Literature Bursary Award. His piece ‘New York’ appears in Issue 17.
What’s the last thing (except for this!) that you wrote?
An updated bio for you just now. How to do it without sounding too flat or self-aggrandising? I was looking at an American university journal (no names) the other day and many of the bios either sounded pretentious or witlessly whimsical or both. ‘I write whilst walking the tightrope of my emancipation. I like eggs too and have journaled at The Helicopter Review, Mindless & Stuff, Goose God, Word Platter …’ Maybe sounding ‘dry’ is OK?
What’s a recent discovery that you can’t keep quiet about?
CMAT. She’s unique. Her concerts are joyful and celebratory, everyone together and singing along. Her new album ‘Euro-Country’ is personal, honest, inventive and insightful, laugh-out-loud-funny and touching – a dazzling mix. She used to dream of being a star and now she is one!
Words to live by…
I’ve experienced lifelong health problems and still find it hard to (no pun intended) ‘be patient’.
Tell us something about yourself that surprises people...
In 1978 when I was seventeen, I went to Switzerland on a school skiing holiday. In a televised Big Top concert in Leysin, we saw ABBA, the Jackson 5 (they were great), Roxy Music (in Euro Lounge Mode) and Boney M. I was a punk. It was excruciating. At a glitzy hotel disco later that night, a friend and I danced several songs with Agnetha and Anni-Frid whilst Benny and Bjorn raised their glasses and smiled teasingly at us from the bar. I was a punk. It was excruciating!
What’s your piece in this issue about?
It’s about a close friend who died last year. He was older than me and led me on many exciting, sometimes hapless, adventures. My piece describes a sexual event that never quite happened; for me anyway.
Thanks Alan! While you’re here, we just wanted to let you know that after a successful autumn of teaching we’ve opened bookings for the first three online courses for next year over on our website: our 1-day non-fiction taster day, our 6-week Building Skills in Creative Non-fiction course (which is filling up fast!) — and new for 2026, our 6-week Advanced Skills in Creative Non-fiction course. You can book direct with us, and if you do you’ll receive a free digital issue of your choice.