List of Irish novelists
Encyclopedia
This is a list of novelists either born in Ireland
or holding Irish citizenship. Novelists whose work is in Irish
are included as well as those whose work is in English.
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...
or holding Irish citizenship. Novelists whose work is in Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
are included as well as those whose work is in English.
A - C
- Cecelia AhernCecelia AhernCecelia Ahern is an Irish novelist, since 2004. In addition to publishing several novels, she has also contributed a number of short stories to various anthologies, for which all her royalties go to charity.Ahern also created and produced the ABC comedy Samantha Who? starring Christina Applegate...
(born 1981) - Liz Allen (born 1969)
- John BanimJohn BanimJohn Banim , was an Irish novelist, short story writer, dramatist, poet and essayist, sometimes called the "Scott of Ireland." He also studied art, working as a painter of minatures and portraits, and as a drawing teacher, before dedicating himself to literature.-Early life:John Banim was born in...
(1798–1842) - Michael BanimMichael Banim-Works:He assisted John in the O'Hara Tales, where he used the name "Abel O'Hara," and there is difficulty in allocating their respective contributions. While John was the more experienced writer, Michael provided material based on his social observations...
(1796–1874) - John BanvilleJohn BanvilleJohn Banville is an Irish novelist and screenwriter.Banville's breakthrough novel The Book of Evidence was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and won the Guinness Peat Aviation award. His eighteenth novel, The Sea, won the Man Booker Prize in 2005. He was awarded the Franz Kafka Prize in 2011...
(born 1945) - Sebastian BarrySebastian BarrySebastian Barry is an Irish playwright, novelist, and poet. He has been shortlisted twice for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction and has won the 2008 Costa Book of the Year....
(born 1955) - Samuel BeckettSamuel BeckettSamuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
(1906–1989) - Brendan BehanBrendan BehanBrendan Francis Behan was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, and playwright who wrote in both Irish and English. He was also an Irish republican and a volunteer in the Irish Republican Army.-Early life:...
(1923–1964) - Gerard BeirneGerard BeirneGerard Beirne is an Irish author currently living in Canada.His novel The Eskimo in the Net was published by Marion Boyars in 2003 and was short-listed for the 2004 Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award...
(born 1962) - Maeve BinchyMaeve BinchyMaeve Binchy is an Irish novelist, newspaper columnist and speaker. Educated at University College Dublin, she worked as a teacher then a journalist at The Irish Times and later became a writer of novels and short stories.Many of her novels are set in Ireland, dealing with the tensions between...
(born 1940} - Dermot BolgerDermot BolgerDermot Bolger is an Irish novelist, playwright and poet born in Finglas, a suburb of Dublin.His work is often concerned with the articulation of the experiences of working-class characters who, for various reasons, feel alienated from society. Bolger questions the relevance of traditional...
(born 1959) - John BoyneJohn BoyneJohn Boyne is an Irish novelist.- Biography :He was educated at Terenure College, before heading to trinity college, dublin, and studied Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, where he won the Curtis Brown prize. But it was during his time at Trinity that he began to get published...
(born 1971) - Elizabeth BowenElizabeth BowenElizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen, CBE was an Irish novelist and short story writer.-Life:Elizabeth Bowen was born on 7 June 1899 at 15 Herbert Place in Dublin, Ireland and was baptized in the nearby St Stephen's Church on Upper Mount Street...
(1899–1973) - Maeve BrennanMaeve BrennanMaeve Brennan , was an Irish short story writer and journalist. She moved to the United States in 1934 when her father was appointed to the Irish Legation in Washington. She was an important figure in both Irish diaspora writing and in Irish writing itself...
(1916–1993) - Ken BruenKen BruenKen Bruen is an Irish writer of hard-boiled and noir crime fiction.He was born in Galway, and educated at Gormanston College, County Meath and later at Trinity College Dublin, where he earned a Ph.D. in metaphysics. He spent twenty-five years as an English teacher in Africa, Japan, S.E. Asia and...
(born 1951) - Shan BullockShan BullockShan Fadh Bullock , writer, was born on 17 May 1865 at Inisherk in Co. Fermanagh and died in Surrey 27 February 1935.Bullock's works include 14 novels set in Ulster and he was admired by J.M. Barrie and Thomas Hardy.- Works :...
(1865–1935) - William CarletonWilliam CarletonWilliam Carleton was an Irish novelist.Carleton's father was a Roman Catholic tenant farmer, who supported fourteen children on as many acres, and young Carleton passed his early life among scenes similar to those he later described in his books...
(1794–1869) - Philip Casey (born 1950)
- Austin ClarkeAustin Clarke (poet)thumb|300px|Austin Clarke Bridge in [[Templeogue]]Austin Clarke was one of the leading Irish poets of the generation after W. B. Yeats. He also wrote plays, novels and memoirs...
(1896–1974) - Brian CleeveBrian CleeveBrian Brendon Talbot Cleeve was a prolific writer, whose published works include twenty-one novels and over a hundred short stories. He was also an award-winning broadcaster on RTÉ television. Son of an Irish father and English mother, he was born and raised in England...
(1921–2003) - Trevor J Colgan (born 1977)
- Kieron ConnollyKieron ConnollyKieron Connolly, Irish novelist, , his novels 'Water Sign', 'There is a House' and 'Harold' have dealt with subjects as diverse as romance, bereavement and addiction. Although everything about the author seems rooted in Dublin: his novels, accent, comparisons with Brendan Behan and Beckett etc.,...
(born 1961) - Padraic ColumPadraic ColumPadraic Colum was an Irish poet, novelist, dramatist, biographer, playwright, children's author and collector of folklore. He was one of the leading figures of the Celtic Revival.-Early life:...
(1881–1972)
D - J
- Seamus DeaneSeamus DeaneSeamus Deane is an Irish poet, novelist, and critic.Born in Derry, Northern Ireland, Deane was born into a Catholic nationalist family. He attended St. Columb's College in Derry, Queen's University Belfast and Pembroke College, Cambridge University . At St...
(born 1940) - Emma DonoghueEmma DonoghueEmma Donoghue is an Irish-born playwright, literary historian and novelist now living in Canada. Her 2010 novel Room was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize and an international bestseller. Donoghue's 1995 novel Hood won the Stonewall Book Award and Slammerkin won the Ferro-Grumley Award for...
(born 1969) - Gerard DonovanGerard DonovanGerard Donovan is an acclaimed Irish-born novelist, photographer and poet currently living in Plymouth, England, working as a lecturer at the University of Plymouth....
(born ?) - Garbhan Downey (born 1966)
- Roddy DoyleRoddy DoyleRoddy Doyle is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. Several of his books have been made into successful films, beginning with The Commitments in 1991. He won the Booker Prize in 1993....
(born 1958) - Catherine DunneCatherine DunneCatherine Dunne is an Irish author. She was born in Dublin and studied English and Spanish at Trinity College, Dublin, before becoming a teacher....
(born 1954} - Annette J Dunlea (born 1969]
- Lord Dunsany (1878–1957)
- Maria EdgeworthMaria EdgeworthMaria Edgeworth was a prolific Anglo-Irish writer of adults' and children's literature. She was one of the first realist writers in children's literature and was a significant figure in the evolution of the novel in Europe...
(1767–1849) - Anne Marie ForrestAnne Marie ForrestAnne Marie Forrest is an author who grew up Blarney, County Cork, Ireland. After graduating from University College Cork, she completed her Masters degree in Urban and Rural Planning at the University of California, Davis...
(born 1967) - Carlo Gebler (born 1954)
- Oliver GoldsmithOliver GoldsmithOliver Goldsmith was an Irish writer, poet and physician known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield , his pastoral poem The Deserted Village , and his plays The Good-Natur'd Man and She Stoops to Conquer...
(1728–1774) - Gerald GriffinGerald GriffinGerald Griffin was an Irish novelist, poet and playwright.-Biography:He was born in Limerick, Ireland, the son of a brewer. He went to London in 1823 and became a reporter for one of the daily papers, and later turned to writing fiction...
(1803–1840) - Hugo HamiltonHugo Hamilton-Life:Hamilton's mother was a German who travelled to Ireland in 1949 for a pilgrimage, married an Irishman, and settled in the country. His father was a militant nationalist who insisted that his children should speak only German or Irish, but not English, a prohibition the young Hugo resisted...
(born 1953) - Dermot HealyDermot HealyDermot Healy is an Irish novelist, playwright, and poet. He has won the Hennessy Award , the Tom Gallon Award , and the Encore Award...
(born 1947) - Aidan HigginsAidan Higgins-Life:His upbringing in a landed Catholic family in Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland, provided material for his first experimental novel, Langrishe, Go Down...
(born 1927) - Desmond HoganDesmond HoganDesmond Hogan is an Irish writer.Hogan was born in Ballinasloe in east County Galway, Ireland. His father was a draper. Educated locally at St. Grellan’s Boys’ National School and St. Josephs’s College, Garbally Park...
(born 1950) - Arlene HuntArlene Hunt-Bibliography:Arlene has written six crime novels, Vicious Circle, False Intentions, Black Sheep, Missing Presumed Dead, Undertow and Blood Money . She is currently working on a new novel.-External links:*...
(born 1972) - Jason Johnson (born 1969)
- Jennifer JohnstonJennifer JohnstonJennifer Johnston is an Irish novelist, winner of the Whitbread Book Award for The Old Jest in 1979, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1977...
(born 1930) - Neil JordanNeil JordanNeil Patrick Jordan is an Irish filmmaker and novelist. He won an Academy Award for The Crying Game.- Early life :...
(born 1950) - Graham Jones (born 1973)
- James JoyceJames JoyceJames Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
(1882–1941)
K - N
- Molly KeaneMolly KeaneMolly Keane was an Irish novelist and playwright . She grew up at Ballyrankin in County Wexford and was educated at a boarding school in Bray, County Wicklow . She married Bobby Keane, one of a Waterford squirearchical family in 1938 and had two daughters...
(1904–1996) (writing as M.J. Farrell) - Charles KickhamCharles KickhamCharles Joseph Kickham was an Irish revolutionary, novelist, poet, journalist and one of the most prominent members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.-Early life:...
(1828–1882) - Charles LeverCharles LeverCharles James Lever was an Irish novelist.-Biography:Lever was born in Dublin, the second son of James Lever, an architect and builder, and was educated in private schools. His escapades at Trinity College, Dublin , where he took the degree in medicine in 1831, are drawn on for the plots of some...
(1806–1872) - C. S. LewisC. S. LewisClive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
(1899–1963) - Samuel LoverSamuel LoverSamuel Lover was an Anglo-Irish songwriter, novelist, as well as a painter of portraits, chiefly miniatures. He was the grandfather of Victor Herbert....
(1797–1868) - David MarcusDavid MarcusDavid Marcus was an Irish Jewish editor and writer who was a lifelong advocate and editor of Irish fiction.- Life and times :...
(born 1924) - Colum McCannColum McCannColum McCann is an Irish writer of literary fiction. He is a Professor of Contemporary Literature at European Graduate School and Professor of Fiction at CUNY Hunter College's Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing with fellow novelists Peter Carey, twice winner of the Man Booker Prize,...
(born 1965) - Barry McCreaBarry McCreaBarry McCrea is an Irish writer and academic. He grew up in Dalkey, Co. Dublin, and was educated at the Jesuit Gonzaga College, and Trinity College, Dublin where he studied French and Spanish literature...
(born 1974) - John McGahernJohn McGahernJohn McGahern was one of the most important Irish authors of the latter half of the twentieth century. Before his death in 2006 he was hailed as "the greatest living Irish novelist" by The Observer.-Life:...
(1934–2006) - Adrian McKintyAdrian McKintyAdrian McKinty is an Irish novelist. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1968 and grew up in Victoria Council Estate, Carrickfergus, County Antrim. He read law at the University of Warwick and politics and philosophy at the University of Oxford...
(born 1968) - Brinsley MacNamaraBrinsley MacNamaraBrinsley MacNamara was an Irish writer.Born as John Weldon near Delvin, County Westmeath, he worked for the Abbey Theatre from 1909, and later as the registrar of the National Gallery of Ireland....
(1890–1963) (real name John Weldon, see Valley of the Squinting WindowsValley of the Squinting WindowsValley of the Squinting Windows is a novel by Brinsley MacNamara , set in the fictional village of "Garradrimna", County Westmeath, Ireland...
) - Charles Robert Maturin (1782–1824)
- Brian MooreBrian Moore (novelist)Brian Moore was a Northern Irish novelist and screenwriter who emigrated to Canada and later lived in the United States. He was acclaimed for the descriptions in his novels of life in Northern Ireland after the Second World War, in particular his explorations of the inter-communal divisions of The...
(1921–1999) - George Moore (1852–1933)
- Jason Mordaunthttp://welcometocoolsville.com (born 1966)
- Lady MorganLady MorganSydney, Lady Morgan , was an Irish novelist, best known as the author of The Wild Irish Girl.-Early life:...
(Sidney Owenson) (1776?–1859) - Margaret MulvihillMargaret MulvihillMargaret Mulvihill is an Irish writer. She has published three novels and many works of non-fiction.-Life:Margaret Mulvihill was born in Dublin and studied history and politics at University College Dublin. She completed her M.A...
(born 1954) - Iris MurdochIris MurdochDame Iris Murdoch DBE was an Irish-born British author and philosopher, best known for her novels about political and social questions of good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious...
(1919–1999)
O - R
- Edna O'BrienEdna O'BrienEdna O'Brien is an Irish novelist and short story writer whose works often revolve around the inner feelings of women, and their problems in relating to men and to society as a whole.-Life and career:...
(born 1932?) - Joseph O'ConnorJoseph O'ConnorJoseph Victor O'Connor is an Irish novelist. He is known for his 2002 historical novel Star of the Sea. Before success as an author he was a journalist with the Sunday Tribune newspaper and Esquire magazine...
(born 1963) - Philip Ó CeallaighPhilip Ó Ceallaigh-Biography:Ó Ceallaigh has spent much of his life living in Eastern Europe, including many years in Romania. He has also lived in Russia during the early nineties, America thereafter, and then his first stint in Romania beginning in 1995. He spent two years in Galway, Ireland before returning to...
- Liam O'FlahertyLiam O'FlahertyLiam O'Flaherty was a significant Irish novelist and short story writer and a major figure in the Irish literary renaissance, born August 28, 1896, died September 7, 1984.-Biography:...
(1896–1984) - Brian O'Nolan (1912–1966) (writing as Flann O'BrienFlann O'BrienBrian O'Nolan was an Irish novelist, playwright and satirist regarded as a key figure in postmodern literature. Best known for novels such as At Swim-Two-Birds, The Third Policeman and An Béal Bocht and many satirical columns in The Irish Times Brian O'Nolan (5 October 1911 – 1 April 1966) was...
; journalistic pseudonym Myles na gCopaleen) - Sean O'ReillySean O'ReillySean O’Reilly is the owner and operator of Arcana Studio, Canada's largest comic book company.Through his abilities as a developer of transmedia properties O'Reilly has led Arcana Studio to winning The Joe Shuster Award for Outstanding Publisher in their first year, as voted by the retailers and...
(born 1969) - TS O'RourkeTS O'RourkeTS O’Rourke is an Irish author.His novels include:*Ganglands .)*Death Call ....
(born 1968) - Glenn PattersonGlenn PattersonGlenn Patterson, born in Belfast in 1961, is a novelist.He attended Methodist College Belfast. He graduated from the University of East Anglia where he studied Creative Writing under Malcolm Bradbury...
(born 1961) - Tom Phelan (born 1940)
- James PlunkettJames PlunkettJames Plunkett Kelly, or James Plunkett , was an Irish writer. He was educated at Synge Street CBS.Plunkett grew up among the Dublin working class and they, along with the petty bourgeoisie and lower intelligentsia, make up the bulk of the dramatis personae of his oeuvre...
(1920–2003) - Keith RidgwayKeith RidgwayKeith Ridgway is a Dublin-born award-winning writer. He currently lives in Edinburgh.-Writings:Ridgway's first published fictional prose work was Horses, which appeared in Faber First Fictions Volume 13 in 1997. In 1998 The Long Falling, was published by Faber & Faber, London...
(born 1965) - Frank RonanFrank RonanFrank Ronan is a novelist. He also writes a monthly column for Gardens Illustrated magazine. His novels have won numerous prizes including the 1989 Irish Times/Aer Lingus prize.-Works:...
(born 1963)
S - Z
- Somerville and RossSomerville and RossSomerville and Ross were an Anglo-Irish writing team, perhaps most famous for their series of books that were made into the TV series The Irish R.M.....
(otherwise Edith SomervilleEdith Anna SomervilleEdith Anna Œnone Somerville was an Irish novelist who habitually signed herself as "E. Œ. Somerville". She wrote in collaboration with her cousin "Martin Ross" under the pseudonym "Somerville and Ross"...
(1858–1949) and Violet Florence MartinViolet Florence MartinViolet Florence Martin was an Irish author who co-wrote a series of novels with cousin Edith Somerville under the pen name of Martin Ross in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.- Early life :...
(1862–1915) - Laurence SterneLaurence SterneLaurence Sterne was an Irish novelist and an Anglican clergyman. He is best known for his novels The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, and A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy; but he also published many sermons, wrote memoirs, and was involved in local politics...
(1713–1768) - Bram StokerBram StokerAbraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
(1847 –1912) - Francis StuartFrancis StuartHenry Francis Montgomery Stuart was an Irish writer. His novels have been described as having a thrusting modernist iconoclasm. Awarded the highest artistic accolade in Ireland before his death in 2000, his unwillingness to take a clear moral stance with regard to his years spent in Nazi...
(1902–2000) - Jonathan SwiftJonathan SwiftJonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
(1667–1745) - Kate ThompsonKate Thompson (romantic novelist)Kate Thompson is an Northern Irish actress and romantic novelist who also writes as Pixie Pirelli . She was born in Belfast and studied English and French at Trinity College, Dublin. She spent many years as an actress in theatre and television, most notably in the Irish drama serial Glenroe...
(born 1959) - Colm TóibínColm TóibínColm Tóibín is a multi-award-winning Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic, and, most recently, poet.Tóibín is Leonard Milberg Lecturer in Irish Letters at Princeton University in New Jersey and succeeded Martin Amis as professor of creative writing at the...
(born 1955) - William TrevorWilliam TrevorWilliam Trevor, KBE is an Irish author and playwright. He is considered one of the elder statesman of the Irish literary world and widely regarded as the greatest contemporary writer of short stories in the English language....
(born 1928) - William WallWilliam WallWilliam "Bill" Wall is an Irish novelist, poet and short story writer. He was born in Cork City in 1955, but grew up in the coastal village of Whitegate. He received his secondary education at the Christian Brothers School in Midleton. He progressed to University College Cork where he graduated in...
(born 1955) - Oscar WildeOscar WildeOscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
(1854–1900)
See also
- Irish fictionIrish fictionAlthough the epics of Celtic Ireland were written in prose and not verse, most people would probably consider that Irish fiction proper begins in the 18th century. However, there are aspects of Early Irish prose that appear to have had some influence on the Irish novel: the use of exaggeration for...
- Irish literatureIrish literatureFor a comparatively small island, Ireland has made a disproportionately large contribution to world literature. Irish literature encompasses the Irish and English languages.-The beginning of writing in Irish:...
- List of Irish people
- List of Irish poets
- List of Irish dramatists
- List of Irish short story writers