Think of Joyce, Yeats, Wilde, Synge, Swift, Behan, Beckett. The Irish literary tradition is one of the most illustrious in the world. But one of Ireland's leading writers has one small problem with the hallowed roll call of famous Irish writers--they're all men, and they're all dead!

BY DEARBHAIL MCDONALD

THEY'RE ALL MEN and they're all dead! Welcome to the wonderful world and words of Marian Keyes, the Dublin based Irish author who has sold in excess of a truly remarkable five million novels worldwide. Keyes, who published her first women's fiction novel in 1995 and hasn't been able to peel herself off the international bestseller's list since, has come to light as one of the most successful Irish literary exports since, well, all those dear departed gentlemen mentioned above.

Often compared favorably to her British counterpart Helen Fielding (Bridger Jones's Diary), Keyes has become a publishing phenomenon in her own right and has penned six novels to date, and that's not aS1. Following on the successful R.TE. mini-series produc tion of her hit comedy, Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, her debut novel, Watermelon has been optioned for film, and is to be produced by leading English comedienne Caroline Aherne. Touchstone Pictures have also bought the film rights to Keyes' classic Rachet's Holiday, and after the triumphant, summer U.S. release of the latest novel Last Chance Saloon, are there no ends to her talent and energy!

The answer, according to Ms. Keyes, would appear to be an emphatic no. Irish Connections met up with the author after her first full book tour in the U.S. which has been deemed a success by both Marian, and her widening fan base in America. During a recent visit to New York Marian explained that she is currently working on her next book, (set in L.A. where "even the palm trees are skinny") and claims there are at least another two novels lying dormant in this highly creative mind.

But life hasn't always been this kind, and no one is more surprised by the success of Marian Keyes than herself. Born in the West of Ireland in 1963, the Keyes family lived in several locations across Ireland before settling in Dublin when their eldest child, Marian, was eleven years old. This generated in the young Marian "a feeling of not belonging anywhere," a skill she has now put to beneficial use as an adult and a professional writer, but something that troubled her in her youth and made her feel like an outsider. The feeling never really went away and from a very early age she developed a characteristically low self esteem that many years later was to almost cost Marian her life.

A conscientious student who was terrified of getting into trouble, Marian studied hard at school and earned a law degree from University College Dublin. A measure of academic pride ensured that the young Dubliner would not fail crucial exams, but Marian remained largely indifferent to her university years and to the opportunity they presented, admitting only that her heart wasn't in it and that she partied very hard.

By the time Marian had graduated, it was the 1980's and the economic climate in Ireland was dismal, with high unemployment and a deepening recession. As a result, many of Ireland's graduates found themselves emigrating across the Atlantic to(the U.S. or across the Irish Sea to the U.K. Marian found herself in London where her Irish law degree was of little or no use, and her Dublin accent and lack of administrative skills didn't help. Marian ended up working as a waitress in London where she continued to party even harder, enjoying what she recalls as the most fun, carefree time of her life--even if she was a woeful waitress. "I felt very un-middle class and uninhibited, going out when everyone was going to bed and making plenty of money...I was living a very edgy life. What sustained and propelled Marian Keyes through this, her "edgy" life, was a substance that only too many young Irish people fall prey to in their salad days: alcohol.

It's hard to believe when you meet the beautifully warm and candid Marian Keyes, the author of an outstanding selection of rip-roaring romantic comedies, that she has in her recent past recovered from a painful, personal battle with alcoholism. Equally hard to believe is that Marian began writing short stories shortly before she was admitted to rehab as the result of her alcohol abuse, and a failed suicide attempt. She was a mere thirty years old at the time of her breakdown. Speaking openly about her personal trauma, Keyes believes that alcoholism was something innate, a disease that she was born with. "Ithink that the outcome was there long before I ever had my first drink, it was inherent. Right from the very beginning I was in trouble because I knew that alcohol was this magic elixir that would get me through situations that I found frightening." By her mid-twenties, Keyes was juggling a life as an accounting student and professional accounts clerk, with that of an all-out drinking disco diva. "London for me then was a wild time, and at that point people were drinking pretty much the same as me. For a long time I was able to get away with it, but sure enough the cracks started to gradually appear, and I slowly began to realize that I wasn't the same as anyone else anymore." The outsider once again, Keyes was appalled when her contemporaries started settling into their lives by getting married, buying homes and having babies. The idea of responsibility she admits was absolutely terrifying, "I was in denial. The form of denial was absolute and grew in direct proportion to my drinking problem. It was always one step ahead of me, clouding my vision. It was a wall that prevented me from seeing the problem that I had. And I didn't want to know, because if I acknowledged it I would have felt morally bound to confront it." Marian's conscientious nature wasn't enough to prevent her from continuing on her trail of selfdestruction, drinking was too important to her, more important than other people at times. "For me there was an emptiness, a longing for something without knowing what that something else was. I always wanted oblivion, my life disintegrated into nothingness...it was just me and my best friend, alcohol."

Four months before' she finally stopped drinking and after being admitted to a rehab center, Marian began writing short stories. The process became a poignant focal point that "made me hold onto myself before I disappeared completely." After she came out of rehab, Marian took the courageous step of submitting a sample of her stories to a publisher. In an attempt to shore up her efforts with a hint of credibility, Marian included a cover letter stating that she had written part of a novel as well. While her short stories never made it to press, the publisher requested a copy of the non-existent novel. One-week and four hurried chapters of her first endeavor, Watermelon later, Keyes was offered a three-book contract. Since then, she has become a publishing phenomenon, but did she ever conceive that life would transpire as it has!

Keyes describes herself as "the most unlikely writer," and, sadly digressing to her terminally low self-esteem, Keyes feared that she was "the most unlikely anything really...I never put any value on anything that was good in myself because as soon as it became associated with me it was tainted. I don't know where my low self-esteem came from because I had a beautiful childhood and came from a really loving family."

Keyes herself could have imagined that eight years later she would be one of the hottest properties in the highly competitive world of female fiction writing. She has carved out her own distinctive niche in the market and is often compared to Helen Fielding--Keyes' second novel was released at the same time that BridgetJones S Diary first hit the bookstores. The comparison is tempting; both are vibrant, confident women writing comic novels that tackle "ordinary" women's issues, but Keyes pushes the boundaries a little bit further by infusing the romantic comedy genre with darker subjects like depression, addiction, and illness. It may be an unusual formula, but it is one strategy that has definitely paid off.

In true Keyes style, namely a bashful modesty, it was never intended. "I wanted to write an Irish version of a Jilly Cooper novel, but it didn't happen that way, as I ended up writing about things that were a lot more darker. When I first started writing, the only books that were being released were about boardroom takeovers and private lear jets, and I couldn't identify with any of it." Instead, Marian Keyes sat down and wrote books that entertained herself, books that made her laugh and made her cry, without knowing whether or not they would entertain others. But entertain they did, by the million, and the key to her success lies in the fact that the issues she tackles are so very real; allowing ordinary peopie to identify with other ordinary people, people who have been down on their luck and have achieved some sense of redemption. Even if it is fiction, there are many dark truths about the human condition at the heart of her writing. All of Keyes' novels share this common theme, "that's what my books are all about; people going through something and learning about themselves, learning to coexist with their brokenness and moving forward." Keyes is aware that the reality she presents--the acknowledgement of the mundane, the evqryday friction and the plain embarrassment in the lives of her characters is something that is most likely played out in the ordinary lives of those who constitute her fan base--and she finds a certain comfort zone in the reader that confesses 'thank God it's not just my family!' However true to life her fiction may be, Keyes is adamant that her work is not autobiographical or therapeutic. "I don't think it's appropriate to write novels in that way, you have to be on very solid ground to remain objective. I couldn't be wrestling with my demons and writing about them at the same time. I do try to be honest, I try not to be sentimental, but I do write it as it is. I have been very honest and I have worked very hard. Thankfully people have identified with me.

People have also identified with Keyes irresistibly wicked humor, a trait she inherited from her mother, whom the younger Keyes rates as a fantastic raconteur. There is an old Irish adage,'what doesn't kill us makes us stronger' and Marian Keyes has recast that for her own purpose when she stakes claim to the belief that "what doesn't kill us makes us funnier." As she explained. "It is very important for me to write comic novel because comedy is the one non-negotiable. I don't want to be light and fluffy, (she's not, she's raucous) but in my experience the best comedy is rooted in darkness." Keyes' latest novel, Last Chance Saloon, remains faithful to the Keyes' paradigm. A hilarious and poignant tale about three best friends brought closer together by tragedy, it is a compelling story of warmth and human redemption in the face of misfortune that is almost as genuine as Marian Keyes herself. Back living in Dublin with her English import (the man she is happily married to), Keyes sees life through very different eyes now. Happy to be back in Ireland after an eleven year exile in London, and grateful for the fact that just as the 'fair city' has changed drastically, so has she. Life is auguring well for Marian Keyes and that's just the way it should be.

Born in the West of Ireland in 1963, Marian Keyes began writing in 1993 Her first book Watermelon was published in Ireland in 1995 and was followed by three other highly acclaimed novels.

Keyes is firmly at the helm of the International bestsellers list, with nearly 5 million copies of her books sold worldwide. Her latest. Last Chance Saloon was Britain's highest selling paperback of 1999. To date her books have been published in 35 countries and translated into dozens of languages.

Other publications include: Watermelon, Rachel's Holiday, Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, Last Chance Saloon and Sushi for Beginners.