Hamnet author Maggie O'Farrell on her new novel on the Irish famine and keeping her Bafta in the basement

Hamnet author Maggie O'Farrell on her new novel on the Irish famine and keeping her Bafta in the basementJust nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleKatie RazzallCulture and Media EditorBBC/Katie RazzallMaggie O'Farrell says she wanted to tell the whole story of Ireland just by one plot of landAs I ring the doorbell of Maggie O'Farrell's Edinburgh home, I wonder with some trepidation whether the acclaimed novelist might have become a bit starry after the whirlwind few months she's just had.She's been jet-setting between the UK and the US, attending red carpet events and won a Bafta and a Golden Globe for adapting her novel Hamnet for the big screen. O'Farrell's new novel, Land, is being published off the back of her immersion into the glitzy Hollywood awards race. "It sort of feels like something that I dreamt," she tells me later during our interview.I needn't have worried that she has had her head turned by LA goodie bags and limos on tap.She opens her front door, sporting a big smile and a black and red jumper that says LOVE on it, with one of her three cats in tow, and immediately offers me and my BBC colleague some tea.Universal Pictures[L-R] Hamnet director Chloé Zhao and stars Paul Mescal and Jessie BuckleyThis is an acclaimed novelist who chose her own clothes for the awards ceremonies. "They said, 'Do you want a stylist?' but it seemed such a weird idea to me".Instead, she decided "I'm just going to enjoy it" and wore - appropriately - a red quill headpiece to the Baftas. For the Oscars she opted for a black veil and Victorian jet mourning necklace, not just because she was saying goodbye to her creation, but also because Shakespeare's son Hamnet "died when he was really young and he was real".The awards she won are now hidden away in her basement "until I get used to the idea."Getty ImagesMaggie O'Farrell in her red Shakespearean quill hea...