{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/63b458521043e00011114396/6a98a4b9e7a9fe24781d94b0?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"Sarah Maria Griffin, poet, author (Eat the Ones You Love; Strange is the Light)","thumbnail_width":200,"thumbnail_height":200,"thumbnail_url":"https://open-images.acast.com/shows/63b458521043e00011114396/1788388455903-93d22f2b-ab60-4a3f-bce2-48003de31fc8.jpeg?height=200","description":"<p>My guest today is an Irish writer, poet, critic, and podcaster. Born and raised in Dublin, she began writing seriously as a teenager, studied English, Media and Cultural Studies at <strong>IADT</strong>, and later completed a Master’s in Creative Writing at <strong>NUI Galway</strong>. Her early work included the poetry collection <strong>Follies</strong> and <strong>Not Lost</strong>, a book of essays about emigration written after she moved to San Francisco in 2012.</p><p><br></p><p>Since returning to Ireland, she has published a series of acclaimed novels, including <strong><em>Spare</em></strong> and <strong><em>Found Parts</em></strong> and&nbsp;<strong><em>Other Words for Smoke</em></strong>, which won Teen and Young Adult Book of the Year at the <strong>Irish Book Awards</strong>. Her 2025 horror novel <strong><em>Eat the Ones You Love</em></strong> was followed by a shortlist for Author of the Year, and she is now the&nbsp;<strong>2026 Arts Council Writer Fellow</strong> at <strong>Trinity College Dublin</strong>. Alongside her fiction, she writes about games for <strong>The Guardian</strong>. Her new horror novel,&nbsp;<strong><em>Strange Is the Light</em></strong>, is out now, and she is currently working on another book, about video games, titled&nbsp;<strong><em>Everything Not Saved</em></strong>.</p><p><br></p><p><u>LINKS</u></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Sarah Maria Griffin – books &amp; socials</strong></p><p><br></p><p><a href=\"https://www.sarahgriff.com/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Sarah Maria Griffin – official website</a></p><p><a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sarahgriffski/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Sarah Maria Griffin – Instagram (@sarahgriffski)</a></p><p><a href=\"https://sarahgriffski.substack.com/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Sarah Maria Griffin – Substack</a></p><p><a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/profile/sarah-maria-griffin\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Sarah Maria Griffin – writing about games for The Guardian</a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Strange as the Light (out 8 September 2026)</strong></p><p><a href=\"https://www.waterstones.com/book/strange-is-the-light/sarah-maria-griffin/9781803366784\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Strange as the Light – Waterstones</a></p><p><a href=\"https://titanbooks.com/creators/sarah-maria-griffin/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Strange as the Light – Titan Books</a></p><p><a href=\"https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/strange-is-the-light-sarah-maria-griffin/7935153\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Strange as the Light – Bookshop.org UK</a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Earlier novels</strong></p><p><a href=\"https://www.waterstones.com/book/eat-the-ones-you-love/sarah-maria-griffin/9781803366562\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Eat the Ones You Love – Waterstones</a></p><p><a href=\"https://www.waterstones.com/book/other-words-for-smoke/sarah-maria-griffin/9781789091960\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Other Words for Smoke – Waterstones</a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Sarah's Perfect Console</strong></p><p><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EarthBound\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">EarthBound (SNES, 1994) – Wikipedia</a></p><p><a href=\"https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Super-Nintendo-Entertainment-System/EarthBound-1173696.html\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">EarthBound – Nintendo Switch Online</a></p><p><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Majora%27s_Mask\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask – Wikipedia</a></p><p><a href=\"https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-games/Paper-Mario-The-Thousand-Year-Door-2568294.html\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door – Nintendo</a></p><p><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_Mario:_The_Thousand-Year_Door\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door – Wikipedia</a></p><p><a href=\"https://www.nightinthewoods.com/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Night in the Woods – official site</a></p><p><a href=\"https://store.steampowered.com/app/481510/Night_in_the_Woods/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Night in the Woods – Steam</a></p><p><a href=\"https://wanderso.ng/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Wandersong – official site</a></p><p><a href=\"https://store.steampowered.com/app/530320/Wandersong/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Wandersong – Steam</a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Other references mentioned</strong></p><p><a href=\"https://store.steampowered.com/app/632470/Disco_Elysium__The_Final_Cut/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Disco Elysium – Steam</a></p><p><a href=\"https://chicorygame.com/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Chicory: A Colorful Tale – official site (Greg Lobanov, also made Wandersong)</a></p><p><a href=\"https://826valencia.org/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">826 Valencia – literacy non-profit, San Francisco</a></p><p><a href=\"https://www.dublinyouththeatre.com/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Dublin Youth Theatre</a></p><p><a href=\"https://www.waterstones.com/book/tomorrow-and-tomorrow-and-tomorrow/gabrielle-zevin/9780701188931\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow</em>&nbsp;by Gabrielle Zevin – Waterstones</a></p><p><a href=\"https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Rock, Paper, Shotgun – games journalism</a></p><p><a href=\"https://www.buttonboys.co.uk/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Glenn Moore – Button Boys podcast</a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Next week's guest</strong></p><p><a href=\"https://www.chortle.co.uk/comics/c/56799/chris_cantrill\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Chris Cantrill – Edinburgh Comedy Award Best Show winner 2026 (<em>Rewilding</em>)</a></p><p><a href=\"https://www.chortle.co.uk/comics/c/56799/chris_cantrill\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Chris Cantrill – Chortle profile</a></p><p><a href=\"https://www.itv.com/snluk\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Saturday Night Live UK – ITV</a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Support the show</strong></p><p><a href=\"https://www.myperfectconsole.com/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">My Perfect Console – episode archive</a></p><p><a href=\"https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Support My Perfect Console on Patreon</a></p>","author_name":"Simon Parkin"}