Caoimhe McKeogh

Caoimhe is investigating play and playfulness in fiction; how imaginative play by characters can help introduce readers to playful narrative techniques.

Commenced 2021

Caoimhe mostly writes fiction, but sometimes explores poetry and non-fiction. She has been published in literary journals and anthologies in New Zealand and around the world, including Landfall, Overland, Turbine, Starling, Cordite and Meniscus. Caoimhe has an Honors degree in English Literature from Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University and a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from the IIML. She has been a member of the Headland Journal editorial team since 2018.

Caoimhe writes: 'I am interested in the idea of characters playing imaginatively within a novel and creating a second storyworld within the first, where they are different characters and their lives have a different logic and rules. Play can offer characters a safe space to explore transgressive behaviour that they wouldn't usually engage in. It can also offer the writer a way to explore playful narrative techniques that would usually disrupt a reader's immersion and emotional engagement in the novel, but the fact it is framed as "play" may remove this frustration from the reading experience. I will explore this idea by writing a novel where characters play, and a critical study of playful fictional works by other authors.'