You may have noticed that my blog header now includes the anglicised version of my name 'Nuala O'Connor' and that my Twitter account name has changed to Nuala O'Connor too. I will shortly be setting up the Nuala O'Connor Facebook page, as FB makes it difficult to change the name of an existing author page.
The reason behind all of this is a simple one: when my novel Miss Emily comes out next year, it will bear the name Nuala O'Connor, not Nuala Ní Chonchúir. It makes sense. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, can pronounce my name despite my efforts to cure that ill. Penguin USA and Penguin Canada are publishing Miss Emily and it will be easier for them to market me if my name (or half of it, at least) is pronouncable.
I was christened Nuala O'Connor. But I went to a Gaelscoil (Irish medium school) so from the age of four, I was known as Nuala Ní Chonchúir. It's the name I have been known by for 40 years. But, you know, change is good and it seems this change is going to help sell my book, so I am happy to do it.
I haven't decided yet if the change will be permanent, or if it will be a (very familiar) nom-de-plume/pseudonym. Time will tell. In the meantime, me, myself and I are still Nuala Ní Chonchúir, but the woman who will face the legions of Emily Dickinson fans will be Nuala O'Connor. May she fare well :)
