Monika Killeen

As soon as they land on a page, they start frolicking about, seeking to express some other meaning, refusing to listen to me, much like my children. And so it is, that what I write, eventually tells the story I intend it to tell, 
but also another, that which wants to tell itself. There is yet a third story, the one that sits in the space between the book the reader holds
and their mind. Here they begins their own relationship with the words, 
shaping their meaning as they venture on together. ‘I write because it is only by putting my thoughts and feelings into written words that I can 
make them succumb to scrutiny and make them whole. Scrutiny yields
occasional clarity, wholeness a dimension, which allows me to see things in
a new light, and this excites me. Putting words down on a page is a howl
of a wild animal being told to let go of my leg.’

Discovering life as a young woman in London, she learned English while working as an au-pair. After twenty-six years in the UK and careers in law and psychotherapy, she migrated once again. She now lives on Waiheke Island off the north coast of New Zealand, with her husband, two children, and Rosie, the best dog in the world. An Inflammable Act of Kindness is her first novel.