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
[ top ]
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.
[ top ]
Criticism
Shirley Kelly, ‘Having it Both Ways’ [interveiw], Books Ireland (Nov. 1996), p.307; .
[ top ]
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.
[ top ]