‘So thrilling and so alive and so much its own thing’: Talking to Claire-Louise Bennett about Ann Quin

Abstract Claire-Louise Bennett grew up in Wiltshire and studied literature and drama at the University of Roehampton before moving to Ireland where she worked in and studied theatre for several years. In 2013 she was awarded the inaugural White Review Short Story Prize and went on to complete her debut book, Pond, which was published by The Stinging Fly (Ireland) and Fitzcarraldo Editions (UK) in 2015 and by Riverhead (US) in 2016. Pond was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize in 2016. Her fiction and essays have appeared in numerous magazines and journals, and she also writes about art and is a frequent contributor to frieze. Her novel, Checkout 19, was published by Jonathan Cape in August 2021. In between finishing Pond and writing Checkout 19, she discovered Quin’s work. In 2021 she made a programme for RadioMoLi on Quin, Annie Ernaux and Tove Ditlevsen (https://moli.ie/radio/series/writer-presents/writer-presents-claire-louise-bennett/). Checkout 19 directly engages with Quin and her work, and in this interview she discusses why Quin’s work is so significant for her own.