'Do Hotel Rooms Have Window Sills?'
Adam Nolan-Horan recently published his book of short stories, which capture contemporary Dublin through the lens of the housing crisis.
The book is for sale on our store and in select Dublin retailers.
What was the motivation for the project?
I wanted to look at the homeless and housing crisis in Dublin but was unsure how to approach it. I felt that there were a lot of demographics being affected rather than just those we see sleeping rough on the street. I also felt that some people were using the hotels as a positive in their lives. In all honesty it is really just a look at contemporary Dublin and Ireland through the lens of the housing crisis. I looked at the construction industry, divorce, travellers, Brexit, Catholicism and even a bit of existentialism, all as subtopics behind that of the housing crisis.
Dublin Skyline
What is the subject matter of the book?
The book revolves around the housing crisis with specific attention put onto the hotel element of it. If you walk around Dublin now all you see are empty lots being prepped for the building of hotels and short stay accommodations or ones that have already been built. I also wanted to look at the multicultural nature of Dublin now. So, some characters are from Brazil, some from Nigeria, Eastern Europe, and then some even from around Ireland itself. I also tried to overlap the characters to show how small Dublin is and how everyone knows each other or runs into each other constantly.
‘Do Hotels Rooms Have Window Sills?’ Can you explain the title?
Sure, it’s really simple. Dublin City centre has always been a predominantly working-class area. The people who live in and around the city were never the most affluent but they had their own culture you know? It is cool. If you walk through the city, whether it’s from James’ Street to Summer Hill or even Cabra to Dorset Street. If you look around you will see one familiar thing. The Lady on the Rock. That statue proudly sits on the window sill of those who live in the terraced gaffs or flats in and around the city. It is a universal image and one that is 100% Dublin. It is working class Dublin in a nutshell. Show anyone from town a picture of that and they’ll know what it is.
The Lady On The Rock
This is the area that is being affected by these hotels and student accommodations. These are the buildings that are getting knocked down. The houses and flats that this lady proudly sits on the window sill of. So if you think about it where will she go? Will she disappear? I have never been in or seen one of these modern build hotels that have a window sill. They just have a big pane of glass and curtains. The title is just a comment on this really. That little piece of Dublin culture that is so universal you don’t even see it and haven’t even considered where it will go if the flats and terraced gafs keep getting knocked. Whether you care is another thing. Some think its scaldy. I think it’s whopper though. Iconic.
Your book is in a short story format. Are there reasons for that choice?
To be honest when I started writing the book I looked at so many formats and how to find a medium to aptly express what I wanted to show people. I went from novel to magazine to essay and so on. Then I finally decided that a short story cycle was the best for this subject. A short story cycle attempts to create an overall narrative but focuses on the individual character rather than an overall story arch. I thought this would suit this subject as it is incredibly divisive.
There are so many people from a lot of backgrounds affected by the lack of housing in Dublin at the minute. So I thought ‘if you look at some of these demographics singularly then try connect the characters then it will be easier to inadvertently link their similarities later on without making it one big thing.’ Because in reality, it is such a subjective topic. Hopefully I was able to achieve this in some way.
Compared to articles and news, does storytelling offer a different way to discuss Irish society? What is special about communication through narratives?
That is an interesting question. I believe that all news and articles are following a narrative. The only difference is the factual aspect of them. They are sourced back to something. Whether it is an event or a protest or crime. Whatever.
Like if you read any tabloid paper on any given day, the articles across them all are very similar, except the writing style and narrative that’s being sold slightly changes. You know? The difference with doing it through a fictional way means that the characters you use are your own. The opinion you are giving is your own. You can source stories for information but you are still creating an independent fictional story. Nobody is real and nobody is being directly affected by the publication. It is all just stories from my mallet. It is just the reliability that changes. Saying that though, that doesn’t mean that the ‘Evening Herald’ for example is telling a more honest story than me. They just have real characters to choose from to write theirs and they do it on the daily. That’s the difference. So, it adds some credibility in the eyes of the public. It makes the story more real to the public.
Writing that many words can’t have been straightforward. Could you talk about the ups and downs of the writing process?
(LAUGHTER) Yeah man, don’t write. If you have kids someday, make them illiterate. Get them into anything that isn’t writing because it is emotional turmoil. I went through such highs and lows writing this. The subject matter is tough, you know? You are trying to express something that is really affecting people right now.
I like to take a step back when I write though. Not many of these stories were written in one sitting. Some over a couple of months. It allowed me to see past a lot, see emotion where I didn’t at first, see humour too. It stays on your mind though and it makes it extremely hard to switch off. You could be in a room full of people and are more interested in getting to know the ones that are in your head. It is really strange when you get into it. You have made a whole new world in there and it can get very hard to escape it. Then finally when you do, you are walking around where the book is set and seeing why you are doing it. The real inspiration behind it.
So, I just liked to walk around talking to people on the streets a lot of the time. I would have a rollie with them and see what the craic is. How life is for them. It puts it into perspective for you. My creative ups and downs will not be the same as theirs. My problems are in my mind. Theirs are in the real world. Which makes it more difficult to comprehend writing something like this, but also gives you a mental push to finish it all. Because people don’t want to stop and talk to these people, to see the sadness and humour in their lives. That’s the main thing I have come to see, people see homeless as a large number rather the individual affected.
After that, the words just keep going. If anything, it gets hard to limit them. Because the more pages you write the less likely people will read them nowadays. A sad fact of modern society. People struggle to read captions on Instagram now, never mind long format writing.
Where can people find your book?
It is available in The Library Project in Temple Bar as well as Hen's Teeth in the Blackpitts, Dublin 8. It’s also available on the FAC Store. The price is €5 with all proceeds going to Clúid Housing and Inner City Helping Homeless. If the price is above €5, then that’s on the end of the retailer. They gotta do what they need to do to stay open.
Do you have plans for another book or writing project in the future?
Yeah, I wanna look at writing a play. Stage production interests me, you can do a lot with the words. It is a different way of communicating something. It is really intriguing to me if I’m honest. This is mainly down to the dialogue and it’s use of setting. You can really comment on things in society and life if you just put two or three people on a stage and let them talk for an hour about a certain topic you feel deserves attention. Then past that it can be just read too.
I will have to see how it goes. For the moment though, I will just enjoy a few Guinness over the holidays. See what comes to mind.
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