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Roddy Doyle

Biography

Roddy Doyle was born in 1958 in Dublin. His father was a printer and his mother a secretary. He earned a B. A. in English and geography from University College, Dublin. After graduating, he became a teacher. He was unable to find a publisher for his first novel so he founded his own publishing company, which published The Commitments. It did so well that the rights were bought by Heinemann and later became a successful film. He gave up teaching when Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha won the Booker Prize. He was, for a time, a member of the Irish Socialist Party and has been a strong proponent of women’s rights, including the legalisation of divorce and abortion in Ireland. As well as novels, he has also written plays and screenplays. He is best known for writing novels about working class characters who, despite going through economic and other adversity, somehow pull through with a combination of humour and determination.

Other links

Roddy Doyle
Roddy Doyle
Roddy Doyle
Roddy Doyle (1958-)
Overlong, overrated and unmoving: Roddy Doyle’s verdict on James Joyce’s Ulysses
Interview
Interview
Interview

Bibliography

1988 The Commitments
1990 The Snapper
1991 The Van
1993 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
1993 Brownbread and War (drama)
1996 The Woman Who Walked into Doors
1999 A Star Called Henry
1999 Not Just for Christmas (children’s)
2000 The Giggler Treatment (children’s)
2001 Rover Saves Christmas (children’s)
2002 Rory & Ita
2004 Oh, Play That Thing
2006 Paula Spencer
2007 The Deportee and Other Stories
2010 The Dead Republic
2011 Bullfighting
2011 A Greyhound of a Girl (children’s)
2013 The Guts
2014 Two More Pints
2015 Dead Man Talking
2017 Smile
2019 The Woman Who Walked into Doors
2020 Love
2021 Life Without Children (novel)