Katharine Tiernan

Novelist Katharine Tiernan gives us an exclusive insight into the her latest work, Star of the Sea. Sacristy Press: What made you decide to write about your family? Katharine Tiernan: One of the first things I had to get used to as a child were the family portraits that hung on the…

GUEST BLOG: Katharine Tiernan explores the origins of her family and their exploits in the Age of Sail. Here is the captivating talk Katharine gave at the book launch in Northumberland. I’d like to start with some personal history, to explain the background to Star of the Sea. When I was …

GUEST BLOG: Writing a novel is like being in lockdown, says author Katharine Tiernan. It feels as if it will never end and then suddenly it’s all picnics and barbecues… After months of struggle redrafting the final section, of long mornings feeling “I can’t write anothe…

St Cuthbert is, of course, the patron saint of self-isolators. He spent eight years on Inner Farne, a small island off the coast of Northumberland, and provides a great example for those new to the practice… Despite Cuthbert’s isolation, he became famous for his saintliness and men…

GUEST BLOG: It is gone eight o’clock on the least-light day of late December, the winter solstice. Katharine Tiernan is standing on the whinstone ridge above Holy Island harbour, waiting for the sunrise… Photo: Chris Combe on Flickr (CC BY 2.0) The Heugh, as the ridge is kn…

GUEST BLOG: St Cuthbert has always been a part of Katharine Tiernan's life, as for so many others growing up in the north-east. But what prompted her to write Cuthbert of Farne? During my childhood in North Northumberland in the fifties and sixties, St Cuthbert was a familiar background pres…