Barbara Scully

Bucking societal expectations one event at a time, Barbara Scully refuses to go quietly into older age – as so many Irish women have historically been forced to do. Her latest release, Wise Up: Power, Wisdom and the Older Woman is part memoir and part social commentary which examines the changing role of women in Irish society over the past 60 years, told through the lens of her experience in contemporary Ireland as a wife, mother, grandmother and dreamer.

A believer that women truly step into their power and creativity after menopause, Barbara is a leading voice for women of a certain age with no topic off limits. She appears weekly in an ‘Agony Aunt’ slot on Newstalk’s Moncrieff Show where she encourages everyone to dream big – just like you did when you were a teenager. Speaking about her book and unique approach to growing older, Barbara says: “Whatever the reason, I realised when I turned 40 and with every decade since I have less f*cks to give. It’s liberating, I tell you.” 

Barbara Scully is a writer, columnist, and broadcaster. She is frequently published in Ireland’s national press and magazines. She is married to the photographer Paul Sherwood. They have three daughters, two grandchildren, a dog, four cats, and a resident fox in their garden near Dun Laoghaire, in County Dublin.

Wise Up to the power …
Wise Up to the wisdom …
Wise Up to life after
menopause!
Barbara Scully offers her take on life after the big ‘M’.
Told with searing honesty, this memoir-come-self-help guide is laced with social history and the occasional rant to deliver a read that is humorous and essential. 

Justine Carbery is a writer, creative writing teacher and journalist. She lectures in Creative Writing in UCD and the Irish Writers Centre, and writes book reviews and features for The Sunday Independent and The Irish Times.