This episode is with Louise O'Neill, the award-winning Irish novelist. Louise has written a feminist retelling of The Little Mermaid which has just been published by Scholastic. A spokesperson for the publisher said ofThe Surface Breaks: “Christian Andersen’s dark, original fairy tale is reimagined through a searing feminist lens, with the stunning, scalpel-sharp writing that has won Louise her legions of devoted fans.” In the Disney version of The Little Mermaid, Ariel changes her body to please a man, is at the beck and call of her father and she even has her voice taken away from her. I got to interview Louise O'Neill at Waterstones Piccadilly in May (2018) about the book as part of a live podcast recording. We discussed feminism, writing fantasy literature, her inspirations and why Mermaids are back on trend again.
"It's funny once you become a feminist you can't enjoy any pop culture, everything is fucking ruined"."
On her main character Gaia: "I just wanted to see her as a girl who wanted to take up more space in the world."
