Colin Barrett (born April 26, 1982) is an Irish Canadian writer, published since 2009. He started his career with the 2009 publication of ''Let's Go Kill Ourselves'' in ''

The Stinging Fly ''The Stinging Fly'' is a literary magazine published in Ireland, featuring short stories, essays, and poetry. It publishes two issues each year. In 2005, ''The Stinging Fly'' moved into book publishing with the establishment of The Stinging Fly ...

''. Barrett released one

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...

and six short stories with ''Young Skins'' in 2013. He released an additional eight short stories with ''Homesickness'' in 2022. Barrett received multiple awards for ''Young Skins''. These included the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 2014. For adaptations of his short stories, two of his works were made into plays for the

New Theatre, Dublin The New Theatre is a small theatre, with 66 seats, in Temple Bar, Dublin. Founded in 1997, it was closed temporarily during 2007 for renovation works. It is partly funded by the Arts Council (Ireland), Arts Council and Dublin City Council, and ma ...

in 2017 while '' Calm With Horses'' debuted at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

in 2019.

Early life and education

After Barrett's 1982 birth in Fort McMurray, Barrett and his family moved to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. Upon leaving Canada for

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

at the age of four, Barrett spent his childhood in Knockmore, between Ballina and Foxford in

County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the Taxus baccata, yew trees") is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Conn ...

, with his four siblings and his parents. He was on

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

teams as an adolescent in Ballina. Barrett studied at

University College, Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

(UCD), and was awarded a BA in English, 2003; MA in Creative Writing, 2009; MFA in Creative Writing 2015.

Career

Barrett started his literary career with

comic books A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

during his childhood before he moved on to poetry and books as an adult. For his earlier works, Barrett "spent 10 years not finishing anything". One of the short stories that Barrett did not finish was titled ''Ontario''. In between his college studies, Barrett was hired by

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...

as a

customer representative A customer representative is an individual who has authority to represent a community that intends to purchase a product. The term is most often applied to a representative of a company, or proxy, who works closely with a producer or developer to c ...

from 2003 to 2008. Barrett's first published

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

, ''Let's Go Kill Ourselves'', appeared in the Winter 2009–10 issue of ''

'' literary magazine. During the following years he worked on material that would later feature in ''Young Skins'', a

cycle Cycle, cycles, or cyclic may refer to: Anthropology and social sciences * Cyclic history, a theory of history * Cyclical theory, a theory of American political history associated with Arthur Schlesinger, Sr. * Social cycle, various cycles in soc ...

of seven stories set in the fictional town of Glanbeigh. ''Calm With Horses'', the fifth story in the collection, is written in

form. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Barrett completed two books. In 2022, he released ''Homesickness'', which consisted of eight new stories. Of these, seven were set in

and one, ''The Low, Shimmering Black Drone,'' in

. Between 2014 and 2018, director Nick Rowland worked on adapting ''Calm with Horses'' into a film of the same name. In 2019, '' Calm With Horses'' debuted at the

and starred Cosmo Jarvis and

Barry Keoghan Barry Keoghan ( ; born 18 October 1992) is an Irish actor. He is known for his roles on screen, appearing in independent films and blockbuster films. In 2020, he was listed at number 27 on ''The Irish Times'' list of Ireland's greatest film act ...

in leading roles. ''Bait'' and ''The Clancy Kid'', both of which were published in''Young Skins'', were made into plays for

in 2017. Barett's debut novel, ''Wild Houses'', was published in January 2024. It was longlisted for the 2024

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a Literary award, literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United King ...

Writing process and themes

To create his stories, Barrett said he would "look for one tiny detail and expand upon it". He also focuses on the people instead of the events to make his works. Some of his inspirations include Flannery O'Connor and

Denis Johnson Denis Hale Johnson (July 1, 1949 – May 24, 2017) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and poet. He is perhaps best known for his debut short story collection, '' Jesus' Son'' (1992). His most successful novel, ''Tree of Smoke'' (2007) ...

. With ''Let's Go Kill Ourselves'', Barrett created Dunvale, Ireland for his short story. Barrett had ''Young Skins'' occur in a made up location called Glanbeigh, Ireland. With ''Homesickness'', Barrett continued to use locations in Ireland while also using Canada for one of his short stories. Some of the topics that Barrett wrote about were about a missing child with ''The Clancy Kid''. With ''A Shooting in Rathreedane'', Barrett wrote about a member of the Garda who investigates a shooting.

Awards and personal life

During the 2010s, the Arts Council gave Barrett a bursary three times. At the

Irish Book Awards The Irish Book Awards are Irish literary awards given annually to books and authors in various categories. In 2018 An Post took over sponsorship of the awards from Bord Gais Energy. It is the only literary award supported by all-Irish bookstores. ...

in 2013, Barrett was nominated for the Writing.ie Short Story of the Year award with ''Bait'' and the Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year award with ''Young Skins''. For ''Young Skins'', Barrett received the 2014 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award. Additional awards Barrett won in 2014 with ''Young Skins'' were the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and the Guardian First Book Award In 2015, the National Book Foundation selected him as one of their 5 Under 35. Barrett is married and has two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrett, Colin 1982 births Irish people of Canadian descent Canadian male short story writers Living people 21st-century Canadian short story writers Irish male short story writers 21st-century Irish short story writers