Literature

Clare Boylan

Born in Dublin in 1948, Clare Boylan has written as a journalist and critic for newspapers, magazines and many international broadcast media. In 1974, she won the Benson & Hedges Award for outstanding journalism.

Her novels are Holy Pictures (1983), Last Resorts (1984), Black Baby (1988), Home Rule (1992) and Beloved Stranger (1999). Room for a Single Lady (1997) won the Spirit of Light Award and was optioned for a film. Her short stories are collected in A Nail on the Head (1983), Concerning Virgins (1990) and That Bad Woman (1995). Her non-fiction includes The Agony and the Ego (1994), and The Literary Companion to Cats (1994).

She has written introductions to the novels of Kate O’Brien and Molly Keane and adapted Molly Keane’s novel Good Behaviour as the classic serial for BBC’s R4 (2004). Her work has been translated as far afield as Russia and Hong Kong. Her latest novel, Emma Brown, is a continuation of an 18-page fragment written by Charlotte Brönte before her death. She lived in Co. Wicklow.

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