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. LINKS Sarah Maria Griffin – books & socials Sarah Maria Griffin – official website Sarah Maria Griffin – Instagram (@sarahgriffski) Sarah Maria Griffin – Substack Sarah Maria Griffin – writing about games for The Guardian Strange as the Light (out 8 September 2026) Strange as the Light – Waterstones Strange as the Light – Titan Books Strange as the Light – Bookshop.org UK Earlier novels Eat the Ones You Love – Waterstones Other Words for Smoke – Waterstones Sarah's Perfect Console EarthBound (SNES, 1994) – Wikipedia EarthBound – Nintendo Switch Online The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask – Wikipedia Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door – Nintendo Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door – Wikipedia Night in the Woods – official site Night in the Woods – Steam Wandersong – official site Wandersong – Steam Other references mentioned Disco Elysium – Steam Chicory: A Colorful Tale – official site (Greg Lobanov, also made Wandersong) 826 Valencia – literacy non-profit, San Francisco Dublin Youth Theatre Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin – Waterstones Rock, Paper, Shotgun – games journalism Glenn Moore – Button Boys podcast Next week's guest Chris Cantrill – Edinburgh Comedy Award Best Show winner 2026 (Rewilding) Chris Cantrill – Chortle profile Saturday Night Live UK – ITV Support the show My Perfect Console – episode archive Support My Perfect Console on Patreon Become a My Perfect Console supporter and receive a range of benefits at www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Take the Acast listener survey to help shape the show: My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin Survey 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.