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.