Evie Woods

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Evie Woods
BornEvie Gaughan
1976 (age 4849)
Galway, Ireland
Pen nameEvie Woods
OccupationAuthor
Genres Bibliophilia, magical realism, fantasy, historical fiction, and romance
Years active2013–present
Notable works The Lost Bookshop
Website
harpercollins.com/blogs/authors/evie-woods

Evie Gaughan (born 1976 in Ireland), who now writes under the pen-name Evie Woods, is a novelist best known for The Lost Bookshop.

Contents

Early life

Gaughan was born in 1976 and raised in Galway, on the west coast of Ireland. [1] [2] [3] She attended Dominican College, Taylor's Hill in Galway. [2] Later she studied business at what is now the Atlantic Technological University, and went on to achieve a diploma in marketing in 1996, after a final year at the Université Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, France on a European Union Erasmus Programme. [1] [4]

During her twenties, Gaughan lived and worked in Canada. [1] [5] However, she suffered from panic attacks and developed social anxiety. As a result, she had to quit her job, returned to Galway and took up writing. [1] [5] She revealed that she is "95 per cent sure [she] wouldn't have become a writer if that hadn't happened." [1] A believer in the healing power of books, "bibliotherapy" as she calls it is one of the main themes and motivations behind writing The Lost Bookshop. [1] [3]

Career

Before The Lost Bookshop was taken up by One More Chapter, Gaughan's novels had been self-published. [6] Describing the mainstream success of The Lost Bookshop as "dreamlike", [6] and acknowledging that word of mouth has played a huge role in this, [1] she has now signed a four-book agreement with One More Chapter for the three books originally self-published and one new book. [6] Her next book, The Story Collector was released in Ireland and the UK in July 2024 and was released in the US in August 2024. [6] The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris was released in March 2025.

Gaughan lists Claire Fuller, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Daphne du Maurier, Gail Honeyman, Elizabeth McKenzie, and Sally Rooney as her favourite authors. [2]

Bibliography

Further reading and interviews

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Coffey, Edel (7 January 2024). "The best-selling Irish author you may not have heard of says social anxiety prompted her to write". The Irish Times . Archived from the original on 12 March 2024. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 Leonard, Sue (14 September 2024). "Beginner's pluck: Evie Woods self-published her first book in 2013". Irish Examiner . Blackpool, Cork. Archived from the original on 14 September 2024. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  3. 1 2 Doyle, Martin (3 January 2024). "Paul Lynch's Booker Prize winner is Ireland's bestselling book of 2023". The Irish Times . Archived from the original on 29 February 2024. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
  4. Gaughan, Evie (7 March 2018). "Cover Story". Women Writers, Women's Books. Archived from the original on 10 March 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  5. 1 2 Fraser, Katie (13 March 2024). "One More Chapter grabs four more from breakout star Evie Woods". The Bookseller . Archived from the original on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Donaghy, Kathy (22 June 2024). "Irish authors invite us into the spaces where they work: 'Women can write anywhere – we fit into little pockets of time'" . Irish Independent . Archived from the original on 22 June 2024. Retrieved 24 June 2024.