Louise Kennedy | |
---|---|
Occupation | Writer |
Alma mater | Queen's University Belfast |
Notable works | Trespasses The End of the World is a Cul de Sac |
Louise Kennedy (born 1966or1967) [1] is an Irish writer.
Kennedy grew up in Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland, [1] and, from the age of 12, in Dublin and Kildare. [2] She worked as a chef for 30 years before joining a creative writing group at a friend's insistence. [3] She has an MA and a PhD in creative writing from Queen's University Belfast. [2]
Kennedy's early short stories appeared in publications including The Stinging Fly , The Tangerine, Banshee, Wasafiri and Ambit . [2] She was shortlisted for the 2019 and 2020 Sunday Times Short Story Awards, for "In Silhouette" and "Sparing the Heather" respectively. [4] [5]
Kennedy's first novel, Trespasses (2022), was shortlisted for the 2022 (inaugural) Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize [6] and the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction. [7] Kennedy has said that it is "a star-crossed love story set in a small town near Belfast in 1975, at the height of the time known as The Troubles". [1]
She published a book of short stories, The End of the World Is a Cul de Sac, in 2023. They were described by Kirkus Reviews as "set in a contemporary Ireland divided by wealth and education". [8] The Guardian 's reviewer called it a "dazzling, heartbreaking debut collection", [9] and the New York Journal of Books wrote of "deep-probing, slice-of-life stories seamlessly woven in stark vignettes without a filter". [10]
She has also written for The Guardian , The Irish Times , and BBC Radio 4. [11]
Year | Book | Award | Category | Result | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2022 | Trespasses | Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award | — | Nominated | |
Irish Book Award | — | Won | |||
Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize | — | Shortlisted | |||
2023 | British Book Award | Overall Book of the Year | Shortlisted | ||
Début Book of the Year | Won | ||||
Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award | — | Shortlisted | |||
McKitterick Prize | — | Won | |||
Women's Prize for Fiction | — | Shortlisted |
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in 2014 when I was 47