Irish writer (born 1968)
Claire Keegan (born 1968) is an Irish writer known for her short stories, which have been published in The New Yorker , Best American Short Stories , Granta , and The Paris Review .
Early life and education
Claire Keegan was born in 1968, and raised on a farm as one of a large family in County Wicklow , Ireland.[ 1]
She travelled to New Orleans, Louisiana , United States, when she was 17 and studied English and political science at Loyola University .[ 1] She returned to Ireland in 1992, and later lived for a year in Cardiff, Wales ,[citation needed ] where she undertook an MA in creative writing and taught undergraduates at the University of Wales . She subsequently received an M.Phil at Trinity College Dublin .[ 2]
Career
Keegan's first collection of short stories, Antarctica (1999), won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and the William Trevor Prize.[ 3] [ 4]
Her second collection of short stories, Walk the Blue Fields , was published in 2007. Keegan's 'long, short story'[ 5] [ 6] "Foster " won the 2009 Davy Byrnes Short Story Award .[ 7] "Foster" appeared in the 15 February 2010 issue of The New Yorker and was included in The Best American Short Stories 2011 . It was later published by Faber and Faber in a longer form. "Foster" is now included as a text for the Irish Leaving Certificate.[ 8] It was adapted for film by writer/director Colm Bairéad as An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl ; 2022), and was nominated in 2023 for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film .[ 9]
In late 2021, Keegan published a novella, Small Things like These , set in Ireland in the mid-1980s.[ 5] [ 10] It was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize .[ 11] The film adaptation , starring Cillian Murphy , Emily Watson , and Eileen Walsh , had its world premiere at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival on 15 February 2024.[ 12]
In February 2022 the story So Late in the Day was published in The New Yorker,[ 13] and was released in a hardback edition in 2023 by Faber.[ 14]
Awards and honours
Keegan has won the inaugural William Trevor Prize ,[ 15] the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature ,[ 15] the Olive Cook Award and the Davy Byrnes Irish Writing Award 2009.[ 15] Other awards include the Hugh Leonard Bursary, the Macaulay Fellowship,[ 15] the Martin Healy Prize, the Kilkenny Prize, and the Tom Gallon Award. She was also a 2002 Wingate Scholar and a two-time recipient of the Francis MacManus Award . She was a visiting professor at Villanova University in 2008. Keegan was the Ireland Fund Artist-in-Residence in the Celtic Studies Department of St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto in March 2009.[ 16] In 2019, she was appointed as Writing Fellow at Trinity College Dublin .[ 17] Pembroke College Cambridge and Trinity College Dublin selected Keegan as the 2021 Briena Staunton Visiting Fellow.[ 18]
The French translation of Small Things like These (Ce genre de petites choses ) has been shortlisted for two prestigious awards: the Francophonie Ambassadors' Literary Award[ 19] and the Grand Prix de L'Heroine Madame Figaro.[ 20] In March 2021, Keegan and her French translator, Jacqueline Odin, won the Francophonie Ambassadors' Literary Award.[ 21] Small Things like These won the 2022 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction.[ 22] It became the shortest book to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize at the ceremony in 2022 .[ 23] It was also shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize .[ 24]
In 2023 Keegan was named "Author of the Year" in conjunction with the Irish Book Awards .[ 25] [ 26] Her book So Late in the Day was also shortlisted for the Irish "Novel of the Year" award.[citation needed ]
Keegan has been a member of Aosdána since 2008.[ 27] [ 28]
Works
Novella
Short story collections
1999 – Antarctica . Faber and Faber, London. ISBN 978-0-571-19712-5.
2007 – Walk the Blue Fields. Faber and Faber, London. ISBN 978-0-571-23306-9.
2019 – The Forester's Daughter. Faber and Faber, London. ISBN 978-0-571-35185-5.
2023 – So Late in the Day: stories of women and men. Grove Press, New York. ISBN 978-0-8021-6085-0.
Short stories
2010 – Foster . Faber and Faber, London. ISBN 978-0-571-25565-8. (Available as pdf at Internet Archive)
2022 – So Late in the Day. . Printed in The New Yorker , 21 February 2022.
References
^ a b O'Hagan, Sean (4 September 2010). "Claire Keegan: 'Short stories are limited. I'm cornered into writing what I can' Interview" . The Guardian .
^ "Claire Keegan" . Aosdana . Retrieved 25 January 2022 .
^ Griswold, Jerry (2 December 2001). "Best Books of 2001" . Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 25 January 2022 .
^ Sinnott, Una (25 April 2013). "The long and the short of the short story" . Galway Advertiser . Retrieved 1 February 2018 .
^ a b Armitstead, Claire (21 October 2021). "Claire Keegan: 'I think something needs to be as long as it needs to be' " . The Guardian . Retrieved 25 January 2022 .
^ Barrett, Colin (4 March 2015). "In praise of Claire Keegan, by Colin Barrett" . The Irish Times .
^ Boland, Rosita (23 June 2009). "Writer Claire Keegan wins €25,000 Davy Byrnes award" . The Irish Times . Retrieved 1 February 2018 .
^ Gilmartin, Sarah (16 July 2014). "What to read on holiday in...Ireland" . The Irish Times . Retrieved 1 February 2018 .
^ "The quiet girl" . IMDb.com . Retrieved 19 November 2023 .
^ Gilmartin, Sarah (24 October 2021). "Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan: a timely and powerful book" . The Irish Times . Retrieved 25 January 2022 .
^ "Irish author Claire Keegan nominated for prestigious Booker Prize" . TheJournal . 7 September 2022. Retrieved 9 September 2022 .
^ "Small Things Like These" . Berlinale . Archived from the original on 16 February 2024. Retrieved 6 March 2024 .
^ Keegan, Claire (17 February 2022). " "So Late in the Day" " . The New Yorker . Retrieved 15 May 2024 .
^ "So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan" . JacquiWine's Journal . 10 September 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2024 .
^ a b c d Boland, Rosita (23 June 2009). "Writer Claire Keegan wins €25,000 Davy Byrnes award" . The Irish Times . Archived from the original on 7 March 2013. Retrieved 20 February 2020 .
^ "SMC Sponsored Programs - Celtic Studies - Ireland Fund Artist-in-Residence Program | University of St. Michael's College" . stmikes.utoronto.ca . Archived from the original on 29 September 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2017 .
^ webmaster, Arts Council (12 October 2019). "Writer-in-Residence/Fellowship Appointments 2019/2020" . www.artscouncil.ie .
^ "2021 Briena Staunton Visiting Fellowship Awarded to Claire Keegan" . Claire Keegan Fiction Writing Courses . 29 July 2020.
^ "Discover the authors nominated for the Ireland Francophonie Ambassadors' Literary Award 2021" . Ambassade de France en Irlande - French Embassy in Ireland .
^ "MADAME FIGARO, finalistes du Grand Prix de l'Héroïne 2021, vendredi 12 février 2021 | Revue de presse • SABINE WESPIESER ÉDITEUR" .
^ "Ireland Francophonie Ambassadors' Literary Award Ceremony 2021" . Ambassade de France en Irlande - French Embassy in Ireland .
^ "The Orwell Prizes 2022: Winners Announced | The Orwell Foundation" . www.orwellfoundation.com . Retrieved 7 March 2023 .
^ Mackay-Smith, Donna (2022). "Reading Guide: Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan" . thebookerprizes.com . The Booker Prizes . Retrieved 4 July 2023 .
^ "The Rathbones Folio Prize 2022" . The Writers' Prize. Retrieved 11 February 2024 .
^ "AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARDS Winners 2023" . Retrieved 23 November 2023 .
^ Falvey, Deirdre (22 November 2023). "Paul Murray wins Novel of the Year for The Bee Sting at the An Post Irish Book Awards" . irishtimes.com . Retrieved 23 November 2023 .
^ "Literature" . Aosdána .
^ "Aosdána elects 10 new members and announces Camille Souter as Saoi" . The Arts Council. 9 May 2008. Retrieved 25 January 2022 .
External links
International National Academics Other