Biography

Ó Ceallaigh has spent much of his life living in Eastern Europe, including many years in Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

. He has also lived in Russia during the early nineties, America thereafter, and then his first stint in Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

 beginning in 1995. He spent two years in Galway

Galway

Galway or City of Galway is a city in County Galway, Republic of Ireland. It is the sixth largest and the fastest-growing city in Ireland. It is also the third largest city within the Republic and the only city in the Province of Connacht. Located on the west coast of Ireland, it sits on the...

, 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...

 before returning to Romania in 2000. He has also lived in Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, Kosovo

Kosovo

Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...

, Georgia

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

 and Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

. Much of his work is set in Eastern Europe. He is a recipient of the 2006 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature

Rooney Prize for Irish Literature

The Rooney Prize for Irish Literature was created in 1976 by the notable Irish American businessman, Dr Dan Rooney, owner and chairman of the NFL franchise, Pittsburgh Steelers....

, for his collection Notes from a Turkish Whorehouse. His second collection, The Pleasant LIght of Day was shortlisted for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award

Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award

The Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award is a literary award for short story collections. At 35,000 euro for the best book of short stories it claims to be the world's largest prize for a short story collection. Each year, roughly sixty books are longlisted, with either four or six books...

. He has also won a Hennessy award for his first published work, in 1998. In 2010 he edited Sharp Sticks, Driven Nails, an anthology of new short stories by twenty-two Irish and international writers, for The Stinging Fly Press.

Writing style

Ó Ceallaigh eschews the prevailing style of Irish short story writing in that his works are very rarely set in Ireland, and instead are set in a variety of locations across the world, predominately in Romania. His stories generally feature solitary men, with women playing more incidental roles.

Selected bibliography

• Notes From a Turkish Whorehouse (2006), ISBN 1844880753
• The Pleasant Light of Day (2009), ISBN 9781844881864

External links

• http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1721932,00.html - Guardian
  The Guardian
  The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
  
   review of Notes From a Turkish Whorehouse.
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/mar/14/pleasnt-light-day-philip-oceallaigh - Guardian
  The Guardian
  The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
  
  review of The Pleasant Light of Day.