Of the release of her new book, Stefanie Preissner says she is terrified. The writer is scared people will not like the personal account of her life and, in turn, will not like her.

The book, Why Can’t Everything Just Stay The Same, centres on her fear of change. However, Stefanie does not let fear limit her: “If I didn’t do everything I’m afraid of, I’d do nothing.”

The book is made up of personal stories from Stefanie’s life. Growing up, Stefanie explains she struggled with change, citing the example of when she went to University College Cork (UCC) to study drama and theatre.

Moving out of her childhood home for college on a Sunday, she had not expected to return to home until Christmas (like in the movies), but found herself back in her mother’s kitchen the following Wednesday, having not handled the transition very well.

But despite how she may perceive herself, the screenwriter of the popular television drama Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope, certainly does not come across as a fearful person. The Cork woman is extremely articulate and does not shy away from controversial issues. She has proven in the past that she is able to take on some of the most robust voices in the country.

George Hook

Her clash with George Hook on Brendan O’Connor’s Cutting Edge, where they disagreed on almost every topic, was televised to the nation and well documented in the media afterwards. Anyone who watched the encounter will know she did not shy away and met him head on debating the issues at hand.

Discussing the Newstalk presenter stepping down from his lunchtime show over controversial comments he made about rape, Stefanie shows not an ounce of hesitation in outlining her thoughts. From the outset, she unequivocally states that she disagrees with the comments made, but thinks that to silence him is to sweep the topic under the proverbial rug.

“People were so upset by what he said, but for me the issue is not that he said it – and punishing him for saying it is not a solution, taking him off air is not a solution, because he just won’t say it anymore – but that he will still think it. He is a product of society, he wasn’t grown in a petri dish,” she says.

“I think we should lead by example and sit down with people and say, the only way to change your thinking, if that’s what I want to do, is to meet you from a place of respect. Listen to what you have to say, try for a second to understand where you are coming from, try to articulate my thoughts in a way that is reasonable and respectful, so that you might understand where I’m coming from.”

Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope

Evidently, Stefanie believes it is important to discuss the issues we face as a society and is adamant that season two of Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope, which will air in February, will be as on the pulse of present day Ireland as the first season.

She is keeping schtum about the exact contents of the new series, conceding only that if you look around at the issues facing young Irish people today, you will find the topics that will be explored. The first series of the drama was very well received by audiences and Stefanie feels that much of the show’s popularity is down to it being what people needed to see at the time.

“I think that it’s a good show, but I think that the response to it has been that of a great show, that maybe it’s not and we will look back at it in a couple of years and say, ‘I thought it was better at the time’.

“We have just been so starved of Irish women who are allowed to make bad decisions, who are real, who are not judged, who are not dictated too, who are allowed to be messy and still be lovable. For so long in this country, we silenced those women, we continue to do it and Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope just came at the right time. I don’t think it was ground-breaking. I think the fact that it was on TV was ground-breaking.”

Mallow

Stefanie hails from the north Cork town of Mallow. She highlights the town as a big influence on her writing.

“You can take the girl out of Mallow but you can’t take the Mallow out of the girl,” she laughs. Interestingly, although she explains that she loved growing up there, Stefanie no longer calls Mallow home.

“I don’t really call Mallow home anymore, it’s where my mother lives and I go to visit her there, but I don’t really have anyone down there anymore to keep me there, but I loved growing up in that size of a town,” she explains.

“My school days were so brilliant because it was a brilliant school and I was allowed to achieve academically the way I wanted to. Just that sense of knowing who you are and where you fit into in a town, I really loved that.”

Stefanie is full of contradictions. She penned a television show about two party girls, but the 29-year-old says she’s not big into social occasions at the moment and would much prefer to stay at home eating pizza and watching X Factor on a Saturday night.

She is also afraid and fearless at the same time or, perhaps, just wise beyond her years. CL

Why Can’t Everything Just Stay The Same is published by Hachette Books Ireland and is available in bookshops nationwide at the cost of €15.83.