Louise Kennedy | |
---|---|
Occupation | Writer |
Alma mater | Queen's University Belfast |
Notable works | Trespasses The End of the World is a Cul de Sac |
Louise Kennedy (born 1966 or 1967)[1] is an Irish writer.
Kennedy grew up in Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland,[1] and, from the age of 12, in Dublin and Kildare.[2] She worked as a chef for 30 years before joining a creative writing group at a friend's insistence.[3] She has an MA and a PhD in creative writing from Queen's University Belfast.[2]
Kennedy's early short stories appeared in publications including The Stinging Fly, The Tangerine, Banshee, Wasafiri and Ambit.[2] She was shortlisted for the 2019 and 2020 Sunday Times Audible Short Story Awards, for "In Silhouette" and "Sparing the Heather" respectively.[4][5]
Kennedy's first novel, Trespasses (2022), was shortlisted for the 2022 (inaugural) Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize,[6] and for the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction.[7] Kennedy has said that it is "a star-crossed love story set in a small town near Belfast in 1975, at the height of the time known as The Troubles".[1]
She published a book of short stories, The End of the World is a Cul de Sac, in 2023. They were described by Kirkus Reviews as "set in a contemporary Ireland divided by wealth and education".[8] The Guardian's reviewer called it a "dazzling, heartbreaking debut collection",[9] and the New York Journal of Books wrote of "deep-probing, slice-of-life stories seamlessly woven in stark vignettes without a filter".[10]
She has also written for The Guardian, The Irish Times, and BBC Radio 4.[11]