Sarah Maria Griffin, poet, author (Eat the Ones You Love; Strange is the Light)

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 IADT, and later completed a Master’s in Creative Writing at NUI Galway. Her early work included the poetry collection Follies and Not Lost, a book of essays about emigration written after she moved to San Francisco in 2012.Since returning to Ireland, she has published a series of acclaimed novels, including Spare and Found Parts and Other Words for Smoke, which won Teen and Young Adult Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards. Her 2025 horror novel Eat the Ones You Love was followed by a shortlist for Author of the Year, and she is now the 2026 Arts Council Writer Fellow at Trinity College Dublin. Alongside her fiction, she writes about games for The Guardian. Her new horror novel, Strange Is the Light, is out now, and she is currently working on another book, about video games, titled Everything Not Saved.LINKSSarah Maria Griffin – books & socialsSarah Maria Griffin – official websiteSarah Maria Griffin – Instagram (@sarahgriffski)Sarah Maria Griffin – SubstackSarah Maria Griffin – writing about games for The GuardianStrange as the Light (out 8 September 2026)Strange as the Light – WaterstonesStrange as the Light – Titan BooksStrange as the Light – Bookshop.org UKEarlier novelsEat the Ones You Love – WaterstonesOther Words for Smoke – WaterstonesSarah's Perfect ConsoleEarthBound (SNES, 1994) – WikipediaEarthBound – Nintendo Switch OnlineThe Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask – WikipediaPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door – NintendoPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door – WikipediaNight in the Woods – official siteNight in the Woods – SteamWandersong – official siteWandersong – SteamOther references mentionedDisco Elysium – SteamChicory: A Colorful Tale – official site (Greg Lobanov, also made Wandersong)826 Valencia – literacy non-profit, San Francisco