Tell us about your new novel, Our Deadly Summer, due out next May?
Sarah: It’s a huge departure from the Aisling series; the story of two friends who go to the US on a J1 visa in the early noughties and end up with a dead body on their hands.
Are you both J1 veterans?
Emer: I am. I did a summer on Long Island, which is where Our Deadly Summer is set. Never met Billy Joel though.
Sarah: I’m not, but I did visit a friend in Montauk on his J1 so I have had the pleasure of sharing a small house with 27 Irish students, albeit only for a week.
It’s quite a change of direction after your hugely popular Aisling series. What prompted it?
Sarah: We wanted to challenge ourselves. And although the tone is quite different, the theme of friendship is a huge part of Our Deadly Summer.
Emer: The story originated from us combining two unusual experiences we’d had before we ever met. We were chatting in Sarah’s kitchen about them and it just grew from there.
Comparisons have been made to Bad Sisters and the combination of crime and a comic touch might suggest Richard Osman. What are your influences?
Emer: I love comedy with an edge. Recently I really enjoyed So Happy for You by Holly Bourne and Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey.
It’s your first book with Bloomsbury, a British publisher. Is that a big change?
Sarah: We’ve always worked with fantastic editors and the team at Bloomsbury is no different. It’s a tricky time for the publishing industry, what with AI and the cost-of-living crisis, but we’re confident that we’re in safe hands.
Noughties nostalgia seems to be a bit of a thing right now.
Sarah: With everything that’s happening in the world, there is certainly comfort in looking backwards to a time of dial-up internet, flip phones and impossibly low cut jeans.
Emer: It is quite jarring to see the clothes I wore in my teens and early twenties referred to as “vintage”. I know how my mother felt when I went through my seventies bell bottom phase.
Oh My God, What a Complete Aisling grew from a Facebook page to a five-book series, selling more than half a million copies and winning three Irish Book Awards.
For those living under a rock, tell us about her and her world. How would you explain the appeal?
Emer: Aisling was once described as “the Irish everywoman”, which I guess goes some way in explaining her popularity. We’ve always said there was a bit of Aisling in everyone and that certainly seems to be the case. Ais is no-nonsense, caring, funny and surrounded by a cast of characters that really capture life in Ireland. We’re very proud of her.
What’s the latest on the TV adaptation?
Sarah: The OMGWACA TV series is currently in what’s known as “development hell”. It may never see the light of day but we’re assured that it can be a long process so we remain hopeful.
How did the series do in Britain? Is some Irish humour too specific to travel?
Sarah: It never made the bestseller charts but I still get messages from UK readers who are enjoying the books. Father Ted, Derry Girls, Sharon Horgan – there’s no denying that Irish humour travels well.
How do you write a novel together? Are you always or ever in the same room?
Emer: When we’re actually writing, we’re apart but we meet regularly to decide what’s going to happen in the next few chapters. It’s complicated but we’ve devised a good system.
How similar are your personalities, imaginations and writing styles?
Emer: Everything is similar enough that we often forget who wrote which part of the book.
You were both journalists for over a decade. How good a grounding was that for your fiction?
Sarah: Interviewing people is a great way to nurture your natural curiosity, which is an essential part of writing fiction. Also, we are excellent at meeting deadlines.
Have you ever made a literary pilgrimage?
Sarah: Going to Listowel for Writer’s Week does feel like that.
Emer: We’ve spent enough time in John B’s pub anyway.
What is the best writing advice you have heard?
Sarah: Write it first, then make it good.
Who do you admire the most?
Sarah: Anyone who puts their beliefs into action, like Naoise Dolan who recently joined the Global Sumud Flotilla to demand an end to the genocide in Gaza.
You are supreme ruler for a day. Which law do you pass or abolish?
Emer: A law against a phone making any sound on public transport. Not even a text ding.
Which current book, film and podcast would you recommend?
Emer: The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, Weapons and The Creep Dive.
Which public event affected you most?
Sarah: After patiently waiting 16 long years, seeing Oasis in Croke Park this summer has made my life complete.
Our Deadly Summer, published by Bloomsbury Publishing, is out next May. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw for The Irish Times
The most remarkable place you have visited?
Emer: We’ve taken many holidays together and my favourite and most beautiful will always be Arranmore Island in Donegal.
Your most treasured possession?
Emer: My laptop. As long as it’s with me, burgle away.
What is the most beautiful book that you own?
Sarah: A pop-up copy of The Night Before Christmas that I read to my kids on Christmas Eve every year.
Which writers, living or dead, would you invite to your dream dinner party?
Emer: Graham Norton, Naomi Klein, Emma Thompson, Sue Townsend, Octavia Butler and Marian Keyes.
Sarah: I’ll show up to do the dishes.
The best and worst things about living in Dublin?
Sarah: Best: its walkability. Worst: the rise in racism and anti-immigration sentiment.
What is your favourite quotation?
Emer: “Graves grow no green that you can use. Remember, green’s your colour, you are spring”. From To the Young Who Want to Die by Gwendolyn Brooks.
Who is your favourite fictional character?
Sarah: Adrian Mole
A book to make me laugh?
Emer: Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. The Colin Firth interview scene is genius.
A book that might move me to tears?
Sarah: Such a Good Couple by Sophie White
Our Deadly Summer, published by Bloomsbury Publishing, is out next May.