Lucy Caldwell

Last updated

Lucy Caldwell

FRSL
Born1981 (age 42–43)
Belfast, Northern Ireland
OccupationPlaywright and novelist
NationalityIrish
Education Strathearn School
Alma mater Queens' College, Cambridge; Goldsmiths College
Genreplaywright; novelist
Notable worksLeaves; The River
Notable awards George Devine Award
Susan Smith Blackburn Award
Richard Imison Award
BBC National Short Story Award
Website
www.lucycaldwell.com

Lucy Caldwell FRSL (born 1981) is a Northern Irish playwright and novelist. She was the winner of the 2021 BBC National Short Story Award and of the 2023 Walter Scott Prize.

Contents

Biography

She was born in Belfast in 1981 in what she later described as into

"one of the darkest and most turbulent years of the Troubles: the year the hunger strikes began, when within a few months Bobby Sands and nine others died; when things seemed to be spiralling irrevocably out of control." [1]

She studied at Strathearn School and later at Queens' College, Cambridge, graduating with a First-Class Degree, and Goldsmiths, University of London. Caldwell left the city she had always considered "boring, introverted" in 1999, [1] but later declared: "yes, it's true: I do love this city, and I do love these streets, and I am proud to be from here." [1]

Work

In June 2004, Caldwell's first short play, The River, was performed at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, and subsequently the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The play won her the PMA Most Promising Playwright Award. Caldwell spent time as writer-on-attachment to the National Theatre in 2005. [2] Her first full-length play, Leaves, won the 2006 George Devine Award, the 2007 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the BBC Stewart Parker Award. In 2007 it was produced by the Druid Theatre Company, [3] and directed by Garry Hynes. The play premiered in Galway before transferring to the Royal Court Theatre. [4]

Her second full-length play, Guardians, premiered at the 2009 HighTide Festival in Halesworth. Reviewing the production, critic Michael Billington wrote: "[Caldwell] writes with real power about lost love. I was much moved." [5] Notes to Future Self was produced at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in March 2011, directed by Rachel Kavanaugh. It was described in The Stage as "Brave, beautiful, and quite extraordinary". [6]

Radio plays

Caldwell's radio play, Girl from Mars, broadcast by BBC Radio 4 in 2008, won the Irish Playwrights' and Screenwriters' Guild Award ("ZeBBie") for Best Radio Play and the BBC's Richard Imison Award for best script by a writer new to radio. In their verdict, the judges said:

"This is a gripping and powerful depiction of the effect on a family when one sibling goes missing. The beautifully-told story begins when a body is found and the remaining daughter returns to be with her family while they await identification. Girl From Mars is moving and emotionally taut. It veers away from sentimentality and felt personal and believable. The structure is complex – combining three different timescales – and uses radio to its full potential, using many techniques including voice-overs, dialogue, text messages, and voice mail. The story has a shades-of-grey resolution about the way a person's life can tragically stop short – and this is echoed in the subtle way the writer ends her own play too."

Novels, fiction

Caldwell's first novel, Where They Were Missed , set in Belfast and County Donegal, was published in February 2006 by Faber & Faber [7] and short-listed for the 2006 Dylan Thomas Prize. [8] It was described by Vogue as "a debut reminiscent of Ian McEwan's The Cement Garden and Trezza Azzopardi's The Hiding Place .[ citation needed ]

Caldwell's second novel, The Meeting Point, centred on a young Irish missionary couple who journey to Bahrain, was published in February 2011. It was described by the Sunday Times as "Compelling, passionate and deeply resonant", [9] and by The Guardian as "haunting... compulsively readable". [10]

In 2012, Caldwell was the recipient of a Major Individual Artist Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. Her novel, All the Beggars Riding , published in 2013, was shortlisted for both the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award and the Fiction Uncovered selection and was chosen as Belfast's One City One Book.

Caldwell won the 2021 BBC National Short Story Award for "All the People Were Mean and Bad". [11]

In 2022, Caldwell published These Days, a fictionalized account of the Belfast Blitz, revolving around the lives of two sisters. The book won the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction in 2023. [12]

Novels and plays

Novels

Stage plays

Radio plays

Awards and honours

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seamus Heaney</span> Irish writer and translator (1939–2013)

Seamus Justin Heaney was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best-known works is Death of a Naturalist (1966), his first major published volume. American poet Robert Lowell described him as "the most important Irish poet since Yeats", and many others, including the academic John Sutherland, have said that he was "the greatest poet of our age". Robert Pinsky has stated that "with his wonderful gift of eye and ear Heaney has the gift of the story-teller." Upon his death in 2013, The Independent described him as "probably the best-known poet in the world".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Friel</span> Irish dramatist, author and theatre director (1929–2015)

Brian Patrick Friel was an Irish dramatist, short story writer and founder of the Field Day Theatre Company. He had been considered one of the greatest living English-language dramatists. He has been likened to an "Irish Chekhov" and described as "the universally accented voice of Ireland". His plays have been compared favourably to those of contemporaries such as Samuel Beckett, Arthur Miller, Harold Pinter and Tennessee Williams.

Professor Frank McGuinness is an Irish writer. As well as his own plays, which include The Factory Girls, Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme, Someone Who'll Watch Over Me and Dolly West's Kitchen, he is recognised for a "strong record of adapting literary classics, having translated the plays of Racine, Sophocles, Ibsen, Garcia Lorca, and Strindberg to critical acclaim". He has also published six collections of poetry, and two novels. McGuinness was Professor of Creative Writing at University College Dublin (UCD) from 2007 to 2018.

William Trevor Cox, known by his pen name William Trevor, was an Irish novelist, playwright, and short story writer. One of the elder statesmen of the Irish literary world, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest contemporary writers of short stories in the English language.

Sebastian Barry is an Irish novelist, playwright and poet. He was named Laureate for Irish Fiction, 2018–2021.

Thomas F. Kilroy was an Irish playwright and novelist.

The Rooney Prize for Irish Literature was created in 1976 by the Irish American businessman Dan Rooney, owner and chairman of the NFL Pittsburgh Steelers franchise and former US Ambassador to Ireland. The prize is awarded to Irish writers aged under 40 who are published in Irish or English. Although often associated with individual books, it is intended to reward a body of work. Originally worth £750, the current value of the prize is €10,000.

Benjamin Myers is an English writer and journalist.

Amelia Mary Bullmore is an English actress, screenwriter and playwright. She is known for her roles in Coronation Street, I'm Alan Partridge (2002), Ashes to Ashes (2008–2009), Twenty Twelve (2011–2012) and Scott & Bailey (2011–2014). Bullmore began writing in 1994. Her writing credits include episodes of This Life, Attachments, Black Cab, and Scott & Bailey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Burns</span> Irish writer (born 1962)

Anna Burns FRSL is an author from Northern Ireland. Her novel Milkman won the 2018 Booker Prize, the 2019 Orwell Prize for political fiction, and the 2020 International Dublin Literary Award.

Jane Harris is a British writer of fiction and screenplays. Her novels have been published in over 20 territories worldwide and translated into many different languages. Her most recent work is the novel Sugar Money which has been shortlisted for several literary prizes.

Kathy Rose O'Brien is an actress from Dublin, Ireland, who has appeared in the Irish television drama Whistleblower, which dealt with the controversial events at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda relating to obstetrician/gynecologist Michael Neary, and in theatre productions including Leaves, The Burial at Thebes, The Birthday Party, The Fall of Herodias Hattigan and The Plough and the Stars. She holds a BA (Hons) in Drama and Theatre Studies from The Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College Dublin and graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2006.

The Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction is a British literary award founded in 2010. At £25,000, it is one of the largest literary awards in the UK. The award was created by the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, whose ancestors were closely linked to Scottish author Sir Walter Scott, who is generally considered the originator of historical fiction with the novel Waverley in 1814.

<i>On Canaans Side</i> 2011 novel by Sebastian Barry

On Canaan's Side is a 2011 novel written by Irish playwright and novelist Sebastian Barry.

The Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award is an annual award for Irish authors of fiction, established in 1995. It was previously known as the Kerry Ingredients Book of the Year Award (1995–2000), the Kerry Ingredients Irish Fiction Award (2001–2002), and the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award (2003-2011).

<i>Where They Were Missed</i> 2006 debut novel from Northern Irish author Lucy Caldwell

Where They Were Missed is the debut novel from Northern Irish author Lucy Caldwell. It was shortlisted for the inaugural Dylan Thomas Prize and the Waverton Good Read Award. It was named by The Guardian's Glenn Patterson as one of the 'top 10 Belfast books'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eimear McBride</span> Irish novelist

Eimear McBride is an Irish novelist, whose debut novel, A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing, won the inaugural Goldsmiths Prize in 2013 and the 2014 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction.

<i>A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing</i> 2013 novel by Eimear McBride

A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing is the debut novel of Eimear McBride published in 2013.

Kaite O'Reilly FRSL is UK-based playwright, author and dramaturge of Irish descent. She has won multiple awards for her work, including the Ted Hughes Award (2011) for her version of Aeschylus's tragedy The Persians. O'Reilly's plays have been performed at venues across the UK and at the Edinburgh Festival. Her work has also been shown internationally including in Europe Australia, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. O'Reilly openly identifies as a disabled artist and has spoken of the importance of "identifying socially and politically as disabled" to her work. In 2023, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jo Baker (novelist)</span> British writer

Jo Baker is a British writer. She is the author of six novels, including Longbourn. She has also written short stories for BBC Radio 4 and reviews for The Guardian and The New York Times Book Review. In 2018, she was awarded a Visiting Fellowship at the Queen's University Belfast, and she is currently an Honorary Fellow at Lancaster University.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Caldwell, Lucy (2 January 2007). "Belfast revisited: Lucy Caldwell returns to a brighter city". The Independent. London, UK. Archived from the original on 11 February 2009. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
  2. ↑ "Culture Northern Ireland Profile: Lucy Caldwell". Culturenorthernireland.org. Archived from the original on 13 February 2012. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
  3. ↑ "Leaves at Druid Theatre Workshop". Druidtheatre.com. 17 April 1985. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
  4. ↑ "Leaves at Royal Court Theatre". Royalcourttheatre.com. 9 April 2007. Archived from the original on 8 September 2012. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
  5. ↑ Michael Billington (5 May 2009). "Theatre review: Guardians/Muhmah, The Cut, Halesworth". The Guardian. London, UK. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
  6. ↑ Pat Ashworth (8 March 2011). "Notes to Future Self". Thestage.co.uk. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
  7. ↑ "Edition details". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  8. ↑ "Dylan Thomas Prize 2011 shortlist is announced". BBC News. 20 October 2011.
  9. ↑ "novelist and playwright". Lucy Caldwell. Archived from the original on 31 May 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
  10. ↑ Stevie Davies (5 March 2011). "The Meeting Point by Lucy Caldwell – review | Books". The Guardian. London, UK. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
  11. 1 2 Flood, Alison (19 October 2021). "Lucy Caldwell wins BBC national short story award for 'masterful' tale". The Guardian . Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  12. 1 2 Salt, Rebecca (15 June 2023). "Lucy Caldwell wins 2023 Walter Scott Prize for These Days -". The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  13. ↑ "Novelist and Dramatist Lucy Caldwell Awarded Rooney Prize 2011". Trinity College, Dublin. 26 October 2011. Archived from the original on 19 January 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  14. ↑ Flood, Alison (28 June 2018). "Royal Society of Literature admits 40 new fellows to address historical biases". the Guardian. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.