Claire Keegan (born 1968) is an Irish writer known for her short stories, which have been published in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', ''

Best American Short Stories The Best American Short Stories yearly anthology is a part of ''The Best American Series'' published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Since 1915, the BASS anthology has striven to contain the best short stories by some of the best-known writers in con ...

'', ''

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and ma ...

'', and ''

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Philip ...

''.

Biography

Born in

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ga, Contae Chill Mhantáin ) is a county in Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is bordered by t ...

in 1968, Keegan is the youngest of a large

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

family. She traveled to

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

when she was 17 and studied English and political science at Loyola University. She returned to Ireland in 1992, and later lived for a year in

Cardiff, Wales Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, where she undertook an MA in creative writing and taught undergraduates at the

University of Wales The University of Wales (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Prifysgol Cymru'') is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff � ...

. She subsequently received an M.Phil at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

. Keegan's first collection of short stories, ''

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

'' (1999), won the

Rooney Prize for Irish Literature The Rooney Prize for Irish Literature was created in 1976 by the Irish American businessman Dan Rooney, owner and chairman of the NFL Pittsburgh Steelers franchise and former US Ambassador to Ireland. The prize is awarded to Irish writers aged ...

and the William Trevor Prize. Her second collection of short stories, '' Walk the Blue Fields'', was published in 2007. Keegan's 'long, short story' '' Foster'' won the 2009 Davy Byrnes Short Story Award. ''Foster'' appeared in the 15 February 2010 issue of ''

New Yorker New Yorker or ''variant'' primarily refers to: * A resident of the State of New York ** Demographics of New York (state) * A resident of New York City ** List of people from New York City * ''The New Yorker'', a magazine founded in 1925 * ''The New ...

''; it was later published by

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...

in longer form. ''Foster'' is now included as a text for the Irish Leaving Certificate. Foster was adapted for film in 2021 and released as the ''

An Cailín Ciúin ''The Quiet Girl'' ( ) is a 2022 Irish coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Colm Bairéad. The dialogue is mostly in Irish. Set in 1981, the film follows a withdrawn nine-year-old girl who experiences a loving home for the first time ...

'' (''The Quiet Girl'') in May 2022. In late 2021, Keegan published a novella, ''

Small Things Like These ''Small Things Like These'' is a historical fiction novel by Claire Keegan, published on 30 November 2021 by Grove Press. In 2022, the book won the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, and was shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize and the B ...

'', set in Ireland in the mid-1980s. It was shortlisted for the

2022 Booker Prize The 2022 Booker Prize was a literary award given for the best English novel of the year. It was announced on 17 October 2022, during a ceremony hosted by Sophie Duker at the Roundhouse in London. The longlist was announced on 26 July 2022. The s ...

. Keegan lives in rural Ireland.

Works

* 1999 – ''

'' * 2007 – '' Walk the Blue Fields'' * 2010 – '' Foster'' * 2021 - ''

Awards and honours

Keegan has won the inaugural William Trevor Prize, the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the Olive Cook Award and the Davy Byrnes Irish Writing Award 2009. Other awards include the Hugh Leonard Bursary, the Macaulay Fellowship, the Martin Healy Prize, the Kilkenny Prize and the Tom Gallon Award. She was also a 2002 Wingate Scholar and a two-time recipient of the Francis MacManus Award. She was a visiting professor at

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic church, Roman Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinians in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Sa ...

in 2008. Keegan was the

Ireland Fund Artist-in-Residence Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the seco ...

in the Celtic Studies Department of St. Michael's College at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

in March 2009. In 2019, she was appointed as Writing Fellow at Trinity College Dublin.

Pembroke College Cambridge Pembroke College (officially "The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College or Hall of Valence-Mary") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest co ...

and Trinity College Dublin selected Keegan as the 2021 Briena Staunton Visiting Fellow. The French translation of ''Small Things Like These'' (''Ce genre de petites choses'') has been shortlisted for two prestigious awards: the Francophonie Ambassadors' Literary Award and the Grand Prix de L'Heroine Madame Figaro. In March 2021, Claire and her French translator, Jacqueline Odin, won the Francophonie Ambassadors' Literary Award. ''Small Things Like These'' won the 2022

Orwell Prize The Orwell Prize, based at University College London, is a British prize for political writing. The Prize is awarded by The Orwell Foundation, an independent charity (Registered Charity No 1161563, formerly "The Orwell Prize") governed by a boa ...

for Political Fiction. It was also shortlisted for the

and is the shortest book recognized in the history of the prize. Claire has been a member of

Aosdána Aosdána ( , ; from , 'people of the arts') is an Irish association of artists. It was created in 1981 on the initiative of a group of writers with support from the country's Arts Council. Membership, which is by invitation from current member ...

since 2008.

References

External links

Claire Keegan
at

A_reading_of_''Foster''_by_Evanna_Lynch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keegan,_Claire 1968_births.html" ;"title="Evanna Lynch">A reading of ''Foster'' by Evanna Lynch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keegan, Claire 1968 births">Evanna Lynch">A reading of ''Foster'' by Evanna Lynch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keegan, Claire 1968 births Living people 21st-century Irish short story writers 21st-century Irish women writers Alumni of Cardiff University Aosdána members Irish women short story writers People from County Wicklow