Life
1963- ; b. New Ross; second son of an alcohol cattle dealer; left school
at 13; moved to Northumberland, and commenced first novel, later published
as The Better Angel; worked in Somerset; worked as horse-riding
instructor in Australia; travelled in Europe; briefly flirted with idea
of joining Royal Horse Artillery; moved to London, 1986, working briefly
as PR to firm of architects; moved to Scotland and wrote The Men Who
Loved Evelyn Cotton (1989), winner Irish Times/Aer Lingus Prize;
winner of the Irish Times Literature Award for Fiction, 1990; also Picnic
in Eden, and The Better Angel (1993); stories in Telling
Stories 2, and BBC Radio 4; Dixie Chicken (1994); Lovely
(1997); issued Ronan (2002), a novel of hippie life in England. HOG2
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Works
The Men Who Loved Evelyn Cotton (London: Bloomsbury 1989; Hodder
& Stoughton 1991; Sceptre ed. 1994); Picnic in Eden (London:
Bloomsbury 1991; Hodder & Stoughton 1992), and The Better Angel
(London: Bloomsbury 1992; Sceptre 1993); Dixie Chicken (London:
Hodder & Stoughton 1994); Handsome Men are Slightly Sunburnt (London:
Sceptre 1996); Lovely (London: Sceptre 1995), 235[240]pp.; Home
(London: Sceptre/Lir 2002), q.pp.
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Criticism
Shirley Kelly, ‘Having it Both Ways’ [interveiw], Books Ireland
(Nov. 1996), p.307; .
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Commentary
John Boland, ‘Bookworm’ (Irish Times, 17 Feb.
1996), interview: Ronan identifies Martin Amis disapprovingly as a ‘stylist’
and himself as a ‘substantialist’ - someone primarily interested
in the ideas and content of fiction.
Eamon Delaney, review of Home (Sceptre/Lir), in Sunday Independent, 7 April 2002, Living, p.20, describes the story of a young boy called Coorg growing up in a sixties commune in England.
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)