Joseph O'Neill (born 1964)
Encyclopedia
Joseph O'Neill is a Irish
novelist and non-fiction writer. O'Neill's novel Netherland
was awarded the 2009 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
.
and half-Turkish
ancestry, was born in Cork
Ireland
, in 1964. O'Neill's parents moved around much in O'Neill's youth: O'Neill spent time in Mozambique
as a toddler and in Turkey
until the age of four, and he also lived in Iran
. From the age of twelve, O'Neill lived in The Netherlands, where he attended boarding school at The Hague
. He read law at Girton College, Cambridge
, preferring it over English because "literature was too precious" and he wanted it to remain a hobby. O'Neill started off his literary career in poetry but had turned away from it by the age of 24. After a year off to write his first novel, O'Neill became a barrister
at the English Bar, where he practised for ten years at a barristers chambers in the Temple, principally in the field of business law. He is a member of chambers at 3 Hare Court.
He is married to Vogue
editor Sally Singer, who rejected his second novel when she was working as an editor at Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. They live in the Chelsea Hotel
in New York
with their three sons.
O'Neill speaks English
, French
and Dutch
.
, was published in May 2008 and was featured on the cover of the New York Times Book Review, where it was called "the wittiest, angriest, most exacting and most desolate work of fiction we’ve yet had about life in New York and London
after the World Trade Center fell". It was also included in the New York Times list of the 10 Best Books of 2008. Literary critic James Wood
called it "one of the most remarkable postcolonial books I have ever read". In an interview with the BBC
in June 2009 US President Barack Obama
revealed that he was reading it, describing it as "an excellent novel."
Among the books on the longlist, it was the favourite to win the Man Booker Prize
. However, on September 9, 2008, the Booker nominee shortlist was announced, and the novel failed to make the list. The book was also nominated for the Warwick Prize for Writing
(2008/9) and made it to the long list of that prize announced in November 2008.
He is also the author of a non-fiction book, Blood-Dark Track: A Family History, which was a New York Times Notable Book for 2002 and a book of the year for the Economist
and the Irish Times.
Additionally, O'Neill writes literary and cultural criticism, most regularly for the Atlantic Monthly.
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
novelist and non-fiction writer. O'Neill's novel Netherland
Netherland
Netherland is a critically acclaimed novel by Joseph O'Neill. It concerns the life of a Dutchman living in New York in the wake of the September 11 attacks who takes up cricket and starts playing at the Staten Island Cricket Club.-Plot summary:...
was awarded the 2009 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to the authors of the year's best works of fiction by living American citizens. The winner receives US $15,000 and each of four runners-up receives US $5000. The foundation brings the winner and runners-up to...
.
Life
O'Neill, who has half-IrishIrish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
and half-Turkish
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
ancestry, was born in Cork
Cork (city)
Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...
Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, in 1964. O'Neill's parents moved around much in O'Neill's youth: O'Neill spent time in Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
as a toddler and in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
until the age of four, and he also lived in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. From the age of twelve, O'Neill lived in The Netherlands, where he attended boarding school at The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
. He read law at Girton College, Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, preferring it over English because "literature was too precious" and he wanted it to remain a hobby. O'Neill started off his literary career in poetry but had turned away from it by the age of 24. After a year off to write his first novel, O'Neill became a barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
at the English Bar, where he practised for ten years at a barristers chambers in the Temple, principally in the field of business law. He is a member of chambers at 3 Hare Court.
He is married to Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
editor Sally Singer, who rejected his second novel when she was working as an editor at Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. They live in the Chelsea Hotel
Hotel Chelsea
The Hotel Chelsea, also known as the Chelsea Hotel, or simply the Chelsea, is a historic New York City hotel and landmark, known primarily for its history of notable residents...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
with their three sons.
O'Neill speaks English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
.
Writing
O'Neill is the author of three novels, the most recent of which, NetherlandNetherland
Netherland is a critically acclaimed novel by Joseph O'Neill. It concerns the life of a Dutchman living in New York in the wake of the September 11 attacks who takes up cricket and starts playing at the Staten Island Cricket Club.-Plot summary:...
, was published in May 2008 and was featured on the cover of the New York Times Book Review, where it was called "the wittiest, angriest, most exacting and most desolate work of fiction we’ve yet had about life in New York and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
after the World Trade Center fell". It was also included in the New York Times list of the 10 Best Books of 2008. Literary critic James Wood
James Wood
James Wood was an officer of the U.S. Continental Army during the American Revolution and the 11th Governor of Virginia.-Personal life:...
called it "one of the most remarkable postcolonial books I have ever read". In an interview with the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
in June 2009 US President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
revealed that he was reading it, describing it as "an excellent novel."
Among the books on the longlist, it was the favourite to win the Man Booker Prize
Man Booker Prize
The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. The winner of the Man Booker Prize is generally assured of international renown and...
. However, on September 9, 2008, the Booker nominee shortlist was announced, and the novel failed to make the list. The book was also nominated for the Warwick Prize for Writing
Warwick Prize for Writing
The Warwick Prize for Writing is an international cross-disciplinary prize, worth £50,000, that will be given biennially for an excellent and substantial piece of writing in the English language, in any genre or form, on a theme that will change with every award. It was launched and sponsored by...
(2008/9) and made it to the long list of that prize announced in November 2008.
He is also the author of a non-fiction book, Blood-Dark Track: A Family History, which was a New York Times Notable Book for 2002 and a book of the year for the Economist
Economist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
and the Irish Times.
Additionally, O'Neill writes literary and cultural criticism, most regularly for the Atlantic Monthly.
Novels
- This Is the Life (Faber & Faber; Farrar Straus & Giroux) (1991)
- The Breezes (Faber & Faber) (1996)
- NetherlandNetherlandNetherland is a critically acclaimed novel by Joseph O'Neill. It concerns the life of a Dutchman living in New York in the wake of the September 11 attacks who takes up cricket and starts playing at the Staten Island Cricket Club.-Plot summary:...
(Pantheon; Fourth Estate) (2008)
Short fiction
Anthologized in:- Phoenix Irish Short Stories (ed. David Marcus) (1999)
- Dislocation: Stories from a New Ireland (ed. Caroline Walsh) (Carroll & Graf) (2003)
- Faber Book of Best New Irish Short Stories (ed. David Marcus) (Faber & Faber) (2007)
Journalism
- Archive of Atlantic writings
- Archive of pieces for New York magazine
- Archive of pieces for the New York Times
- The Ascent of Man (Granta, issue 72, Winter 2000)
External links
- "Post 9/11, a New York of Gatsby-Size Dreams and Loss", by Michiko Kakutani, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, May 16, 2008. Review of NetherlandNetherlandNetherland is a critically acclaimed novel by Joseph O'Neill. It concerns the life of a Dutchman living in New York in the wake of the September 11 attacks who takes up cricket and starts playing at the Staten Island Cricket Club.-Plot summary:...
. - "Pen in One Hand, Cricket Bat in the Other", by Charles McGrath, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, May 17, 2008. Article on McNeill. - "What Did You Do in the War?", by Colin Harrison, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, February 17, 2002. Review of Blood-Dark Track.