Niall Williams (born 1958) is an Irish writer of novels, plays, and non-fiction. He is known for his novels Four Letters of Love (1997), As It Is In Heaven (1999), Fall of the Light (2008), History of the Rain (2014), and This Is Happiness (2019).
Niall Williams was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1958.[1] His parents' home was not filled with books, but his parents wanted him to be better educated than they were, and his father would take him to Pembroke Library every two weeks to encourage reading.[1]
He studied at University College Dublin, graduating with a Masters of Arts in Modern American literature, where he met his future wife, writer Christine Breen.[1]
Career
Williams' first published story was printed in The Irish Press when he was eighteen. A £25 cheque for his first story, and a nod of approval, was the confirmation he needed from the world to dedicate his life to writing.[1]
After five years,[1] in 1985, Williams and Breen returned to Ireland and moved to Kilmihil, County Clare, and began co-writing factual accounts of life in rural Ireland.[3]
Non-fiction
Williams' first four books, co-written with Breen, were non-fiction works relating to their lives living in a 200-year-old farmhouse in County Clare, and were written primarily for an American audience.[1]
Plays
In 1991, Williams' first play, The Murphy Initiative, was staged at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.[4] His second play, A Little Like Paradise, was produced on the Peacock stage of the Abbey Theatre in 1995.[4] His third play, The Way You Look Tonight, was produced by Galway’s Druid Theatre Company in 1999.[4]
Novels
Four Letters of Love, Williams' first novel, was published in 1997 to acclaim.[1] It went on to become an international bestseller and has been translated into many languages.[citation needed]
In 2006, Williams' published his novella, The Unrequited. He also wrote two young adult novels, Boy in the World (2007) and Boy and Man (2008).[citation needed]
In 2014, Williams started a series of novels set in Faha, a fictional village in the west of Ireland. Similar to Macondo in the works of Gabriel García Márquez, Faha is a village steeped in magic realism, which acts as a backdrop for Williams' stories.[5][6][7]
His 2024 novel, Time of the Child, is also set in Faha. Lucy Popsecu, writing in The Guardian, called it "a slow-burning, finely crafted novel about second chances, humanity and familial love".[8]
Screenplays
Williams has also written screenplays for television and film, including screenplays for Four Letters of Love and This Is Happiness.[3]
Williams married American writer and artist Christine Breen, whom he met at University College Dublin. They have two adult children.[1][23]
They moved to Kiltumpter, in west County Clare, in Ireland, to live in Breen's grandfather's old cottage. Both teach creative writing workshops. Williams does not read reviews.[1]
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