She reveals that: “growing up in a culture that pressures women into being thin and always seeming perfect meant that I was drawn to stories about girls who weren't like that. You can't be dismissive of, or patronising towards your characters or readers”.In describing what led her to choose eating disorders as the subject matter for her latest novel, Hennessy describes an interest in the way in which modern society and literature treats women, especially young women. “You have to approach things from the point of view of someone who hasn't been through it before,” she explains, “someone who hasn't built up coping strategies for it, who hasn't survived something like this previously. “There is no group of humans we take less seriously, as a society, than teenage girls”Hennessy’s respect for young readers is something which comes across strongly as she discusses her writing process. They're often dealing with things for the first time so they're in quite intense situations. According to Hennessy “getting the perspective right”, is the most important aspect in writing for young people: “Teenagers can be really smart and brilliant but haven't built up a huge amount of life experience yet. Her previous novels have dealt with such issues as sexual fluidity, volatile sibling relationships and self-harm in a manner which is refreshing to see in young-adult fiction, a genre which often glosses over such matters. Nothing Tastes as Good is not Hennessy's first foray into discussing controversial topics. This is particularly true in her latest work Nothing Tastes as Good, which deals with the subject of eating disorders, while managing to remain compelling and humorous. Once described by The Irish Times as “Hermione Granger with a playful streak”, she certainly exceeds even this description. Hennessy also teaches in UCD, disproving the popular saying that those who cannot do, teach.

Not only that but in 2009 the Dublin born author co-founded the Big Smoke Writing Factory with fellow writer Nicole Rourke, which offers creative writing workshops to aspiring writers. With eleven novels written by the age of thirty, she is a veteran in the art of writing young-adult fiction.

By Ezra Maloney | Seasoned young-adult novelist Claire Hennessy sits down with Ezra Maloney to chat about her latest novel, Nothing Tastes as Good, which discusses the often taboo subject of eating disorders.CLAIRE Hennessy is a woman of many talents.

Nothing tastes as good claire hennessy