'Love, Lycra and Tattoos' was born in a club in Dublin

Love, Lycra and Tattoo, the new collection of stories from author Kathryn Crowley, was launched in Dublin on the 4th of December 2025 and is available to buy now.

I am thrilled to announce that my new baby came into the world last Thursday evening in a club in Parnell Square in Dublin. She, (of course it's a female), had an eight-year gestation period and, but for the constant prodding and nudging of my editor Emer Cleary from Emu Ink, she may never have arrived.

She weighed it at 183g, is 22cm long and 5.5 cm wide and contains 112 pages. Not a hefty, mighty tome; she is small but perfectly-formed.

For any of you who have already bought a copy and has flicked through it, you may have noticed that I have dedicated the book to one of my dearest friends, (I won’t say oldest!). When I met Barbara Kelly for the first time in boarding school in Rosscarbery in West Cork nearly fifty years ago now (how did that happen?), she was inspiring. She was a powerhouse on the basketball court, she was the only one I knew who had a boyfriend with access to a car and we had such good times and fun together. She inspired me then and inspires me even more in recent times. Barbara read an early version of my novella and she gave me her permission to use her 'home turf' of Clontarf as a backdrop to the story.

The first part of my book is a novella which gives its name to the title of the book, Love, Lycra and Tattoos. What is a novella? Depending on whom you ask, it is either a short novel or a long short story. This is a novella in flash (NiF), where each chapter is of itself a piece of standalone flash fiction. Chapters throughout are written in different genres. For those of you who are interested in writing and the craft of writing, these are called hermit crab flash fictions insofar as they borrow the structure of another existing form of text to tell a narrative. Some chapters are diary entries, some are lists, one is a menu. The story is centred around a young woman, Fiona, who works as a physiotherapist and lives on the Northside of Dublin, and her mother and the relationship they have. At the launch event, I read the first two chapters. The first chapter is set in Fiona’s mother’s house where they have lunch together every Sunday and the second chapter is written as Fiona’s diary entries for the following week.

The second part of the book comprises eleven short stories. Below is the blurb on the book jacket:

'The novella Love, Lycra and Tattoos is the touching story of a daughter and her mother who face daily challenges and life-changing events. Fiona’s mother, a single parent, is trying to keep the reality of her recent diagnosis from her daughter; but navigating their new terrain without transparency only leads to more difficulties.

“(this novella) has its own voice, pacing and emotional 

intelligence; the work is fresh, awake and wryly kind.”

- AAWP (Australian Association of Writing Programs) 

& Spineless Wonder Novella Prize 2024

The fictional stories in this collection provide unique insights into domestic dramas and deliver universal truths about seemingly small lives. Read about a grown man who has never left home in Adult Education, stories about the wrong people married to each other in Sitting in a Parked Car and Going Through the Motions. For a futuristic flavour, enjoy Eco Betrayals and a familial story of hope is depicted in True North, Finding a Way Home.'

I was honoured and humbled to see so many of you, family, ex-work colleagues, basketballers, golfers, fellow writers, friends, indeed all of you who took the time to come to the launch, especially at such a busy time of the year on the run up to Christmas. I really appreciate your support.

I want to thank everyone who made the evening possible, to Stephen and Tadhg in Club na Múinteoirí for allowing us the use of the wonderful facilities. I had my 21^st birthday party downstairs in the club about, what, ten years ago now! I now have even greater memories of the venue. See the reel below to look at some of the highlights of the event.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DR5CY9-jPeH/?igsh=ZGl6NHNlMWdkaXJv

Thanks to John Fintan McCutcheon whose idea it was to have a joint book launch, a superb idea as it turns out. He read from his excellent new collection Burning Inwards at the launch, and I can testify to it being a fantastic read. His stories are raw and powerful, with male characters who will stay with you long after you have put the book down.

Thanks to the Moving Parts choir who entertained us at the beginning and end of the event with some beautiful choral music. Thanks especially to Mary Cleary who did such a marvellous job as MC at this, my third book launch. I asked Mary on the evening if it will be third time lucky. Maybe we will finally get it together and make a script/drama out of one of the stories in this book and Mary, who is an ex-member of the Druid Theatre Company, will take the lead part in that play when it happens.

 My biggest thanks is to Emer Cleary of Emu Ink, my editor/publisher/friend for bringing this book to fruition. Even if it is about seven years later than either of us thought it would be. Emer kept her faith in me, kept encouraging me and worked her magic to design and publish this beautiful book. I am really thrilled with how it has turned out. Thanks to all in Emu Ink ­– Brian, Ciara, Sarah, Niamh – without whose help and support these stories would never have seen the light of day but would have stayed shoved into the proverbial drawer. Thanks also to Breda who helped me with the design of my website.

Love, Lycra and Tattoos is now available at a retail price of €14.99 in the Book Haven in Knocklyon, in Rathfarnham Bookshop, online at BuytheBook or is available to download at Amazon.

For any of you who have already read my book and, hopefully, enjoyed it, I would really appreciate it if you’d be willing to put a review up on one of the websites (BuytheBook, Goodreads, Amazon). Reader reviews really drive sales. Thank you and a happy Christmas to you and yours. Thanks for reading my blog posts during 2025.