Mark O'Connell (born 23 June 1979) is an Irish author and journalist. His debut book, To Be a Machine, was published in 2017, followed by Notes from an Apocalypse in 2020. His third book, A Thread of Violence, was published in 2023. He has written for publications including The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The New York Review of Books, and The Guardian. He is also the author of the Kindle Single Epic Fail: Bad Art, Viral Fame, and the History of the Worst Thing Ever (Byliner/The Millions),[1] as well as an academic study of the novels of John Banville.[2]
O'Connell was born in Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1979,[3] and grew up there.[4] His father worked as a pharmacist. O'Connell has an older brother and a younger sister. He studied English at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), completed a PhD on the novels of John Banville, and graduated in 2011. He lives in Dublin.
O'Connell's second book, published in 2020, is Notes from an Apocalypse.[8] A book about apocalyptic anxieties, it was described by Esquire as "deeply funny and life-affirming, with a warm, generous outlook even on the most challenging of subjects."[8]
His third book, A Thread of Violence, about the Irish murderer Malcolm Macarthur, was published in 2023.
In 2020, it was announced that a theatrical adaptation of To Be a Machine was to be performed as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival. Titled To Be a Machine (Version 1.0), the adaptation by theatre company Dead Centre saw O'Connell's character played by Jack Gleeson. Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, the performance was online only.[14]
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