Tanya Farrelly’s debut short fiction collection, When Black Dogs Sing, introduces us to an intriguing range of twenty-first century Irish characters. A young woman rents a room, to her boyfriend’s horror, in the home of an eccentric, bi-curious photographer; a poet attends a party at his girlfriend’s family home to discover that the invite was made with nefarious intention; a husband is outraged to discover that his wife is posing at a life drawing class; two girls break into the flat of an internet date and stumble on a dangerous secret; a stakeout ends in dire consequence when a friendship comes undone; a woman leaves home on a freezing night in the hope of gaining her partner’s attention; and in the title story a mother is haunted by her son’s disappearance.
Tanya Farrelly is the author of three books. Her first book, a collection of short fiction, When Black Dogs Sing, was published by Arlen House in 2016, longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize, and won the prestigious Kate O’Brien Award in 2017. Her two psychological thrillers, The Girl Behind the Lens and When Your Eyes Close were published by Harper Collins and both were Amazon bestsellers. She holds a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing from Bangor University, Wales, and teaches at the Irish Writers Centre and the People’s College. She has been named Writer in Residence 2021 at NUI Galway. She is also the founder and director of Bray Literary Festival. Her second short story collection Nobody Needs to Know is forthcoming from Arlen House.