Gemma’s haunting Limerick tale could make it to Hollywood

A PROLIFIC Limerick writer who is currently working on her tenth novel, is hoping that an interested Hollywood company might soon put her work on the silver screen. Gemma Mawdsley, Ennis Road, wrote her first ghostly novel, the Paupers’ Graveyard, just two years ago and now a division of the Fox network is looking at turning it into a film. “It would be absolutely fantastic if they did and it would be great if they would come to Ireland to make it – it would be a boost for the economy,” Gemma told Limerick Post reporter Bernie English.

The graveyard tale is fiction but was inspired by real-life experiences, she explained.
‘It’s based on the famine graveyard on the Killeely road. When we were children, we used to play down there and frighten each other by saying we saw shapes in the bushes”.
Gemma’s works “come from my imagination – they’re ghost stories but with the Paupers’ Graveyard I had to put a lot of research in because it’s a famine grave and that was such an important time in our history,” she said.
Gemma’s interest in writing started 10 years ago when she did a two-year creative writing course in UL.
“But I really only started taking it seriously a few years ago when the children were grown up. Now I treat it as a job. I write from 10 till five every day”.
The debut novel is enjoying a big boost of interest in the US at the moment. ‘I think it is because of the rise of e-books. In a recession, they are more accessible for people”, said Gemma.
She is currently working on a young adults book.
“It will be dark but I’ve never seen any of these Twilight films or anything like that but I know I won’t be going down the road of vampires or werewolves”.