LEONA FORDE
ProfCert Innovation Academy 2018
LEONA FORDE
Leona Forde is an English and History teacher from Bandon, Co. Cork. She wrote the first Milly McCarthy book, Milly McCa...
Writers
SUSANNAH GIBSON
BSc Experimental Physics 2004
SUSANNAH GIBSON
Dr Susannah Gibson’s well-reviewed book, Bluestockings, tells the stories of the women who showed the world that they...
NEIL JORDAN
BA History 1972
NEIL JORDAN
Writer and film director Neil Jordan has published Amnesiac: A Memoir. The autobiography covers his early life in Sligo...
FERDIA LENNON
BA Greek & Roman Civilisation & History 2009
FERDIA LENNON
Ferdia Lennon’s debut novel Glorious Exploits, which opens in Syracuse, Sicily, in 412 BC, has been widely praised. In...
SARAH BINCHY
BA English & Spanish 1994
SARAH BINCHY
As editor of Sunday Miscellany: A Selection 2018-2023, published by New Island Books, Sarah Binchy took home the award f...
CLAIRE COUGHLAN
BA Italian & English 2002, MA Creative Writing 2009, MFA 2014
CLAIRE COUGHLAN
Set in 1960s Dublin, Claire Coughlan’s acclaimed debut novel Where They Lie draws on her own years working on magazine...
COLIN BARRETT
BA English 2003, MA Creative Writing 2009, MFA 2015
COLIN BARRETT
After publishing two acclaimed story collections, Young Skins (2013) and Homesickness (2022), this year Colin Barrett ha...
ESTELLE BIRDY
BCL 1991, MA Creative Writing 2019
ESTELLE BIRDY
Estelle Birdy’s debut novel, Ravelling, set in and around the Liberties, where she raised her family, was published by...
LEONA FORDE
ProfCert Innovation Academy 2018
Leona Forde is an English and History teacher from Bandon, Co. Cork. She wrote the first Milly McCarthy book, Milly McCarthy is a Complete Catastrophe, for her daughter, who wanted to read a Wimpy Kid-style story but not one set in the US or UK. This year saw the publication of the third Milly McCarthy book, Milly McCarthy and the Sports Day Shambles.
SUSANNAH GIBSON
BSc Experimental Physics 2004
Dr Susannah Gibson’s well-reviewed book, Bluestockings, tells the stories of the women who showed the world that they could be men’s intellectual equals, and could be paid for their literary work. Dr Gibson is an Affiliated Scholar of the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and holds a PhD from Cambridge University.
NEIL JORDAN
BA History 1972
Writer and film director Neil Jordan has published Amnesiac: A Memoir. The autobiography covers his early life in Sligo and Dublin, working with Jim Sheridan at the Project Arts Centre and the making of his first feature film, Angel, in 1982 with Stephen Rea. The Company of Wolves and Mona Lisa followed and Hollywood also features with an Oscar for Best Screenplay for The Crying Game.
FERDIA LENNON
BA Greek & Roman Civilisation & History 2009
Ferdia Lennon’s debut novel Glorious Exploits, which opens in Syracuse, Sicily, in 412 BC, has been widely praised. In The Guardian, Killian Fox commended it as “immensely likeable” and “raucously funny”. After his studies at UCD, Lennon was awarded an MA in Prose Fiction from the University of East Anglia. His short stories have appeared in The Irish Times and The Stinging Fly. He won the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2024 for Glorious Exploits.
SARAH BINCHY
BA English & Spanish 1994
As editor of Sunday Miscellany: A Selection 2018-2023, published by New Island Books, Sarah Binchy took home the award for the Best Irish-Published Book of the Year at the 2023 An Post Irish Book Awards. Sunday Miscellany is an Irish institution, and this anthology includes contributions from authors such as Colm Tóibín, Niamh Campbell, Joseph O'Connor, Louise Kennedy, John F Deane, Susan McKay, Nicole Flattery and Manchán Magan.
CLAIRE COUGHLAN
BA Italian & English 2002, MA Creative Writing 2009, MFA 2014
Set in 1960s Dublin, Claire Coughlan’s acclaimed debut novel Where They Lie draws on her own years working on magazines and newspapers to craft a story about a young journalist investigating a cold crime. John Banville has described it as “a thrillingly dark and atmospheric tale, richly evocative of its time” and fellow crime writer Tana French says it is “not just a mystery novel: it’s a window into a vanished world”.
COLIN BARRETT
BA English 2003, MA Creative Writing 2009, MFA 2015
After publishing two acclaimed story collections, Young Skins (2013) and Homesickness (2022), this year Colin Barrett had his first novel, Wild Houses, published by Jonathan Cape. One of The Observer’s debut novels of 2024, the story is set in a fictional small town in Barrett’s native Co. Mayo. Wild Houses earned positive reviews and has been longlisted for the Booker Prize 2024.
ESTELLE BIRDY
BCL 1991, MA Creative Writing 2019
Estelle Birdy’s debut novel, Ravelling, set in and around the Liberties, where she raised her family, was published by Lilliput this year and has already been optioned by Sleeper Films for a TV series. Birdy worked in recruitment, HR, communications, website management and teaching before returning to UCD to take a masters in Creative Writing.