Maggie O'Farrell, RSL (born 27 May 1972), is a novelist from Northern Ireland. Her acclaimed first novel, ''

After You'd Gone ''After You'd Gone'' is Northern Irish author Maggie O'Farrell's debut novel. Published in 2000 by Headline Review, it garnered 'international acclaim' and won a Betty Trask Award. O'Farrell started writing the story which was to become ''After ...

'', won the

Betty Trask Award The Betty Trask Prize and Awards are for first novels written by authors under the age of 35, who reside in a current or former Commonwealth nation. Each year the awards total £20,000, with one author receiving a larger prize amount, called the ...

, and a later one, '' The Hand That First Held Mine'', the 2010 Costa Novel Award. She has twice been shortlisted since for the Costa Novel Award: for ''Instructions for a Heatwave'' in 2014 and ''This Must Be The Place'' in 2017. She appeared in the

Waterstones Waterstones, formerly Waterstone's, is a British book retailer that operates 311 shops, mainly in the United Kingdom and also other nearby countries. As of February 2014, it employs around 3,500 staff in the UK and Europe. An average-sized Wa ...

''25 Authors for the Future''. Her memoir ''I am, I am, I am: Seventeen Brushes with Death'' reached the top of the ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' bestseller list. Her novel '' Hamnet'' won the

Women's Prize for Fiction The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 and 2009–12), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017)) is one of the United Kingdom's m ...

in 2020, and the fiction prize at the 2020

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".

Early life and career

O'Farrell was born in

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from ga, Cúil Rathain , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern I ...

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. B ...

, Northern Ireland, and grew up in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. At the age of eight she was hospitalised with

encephalitis Encephalitis is inflammation of the brain. The severity can be variable with symptoms including reduction or alteration in consciousness, headache, fever, confusion, a stiff neck, and vomiting. Complications may include seizures, hallucinations, ...

and missed over a year of school. These events are echoed in ''The Distance Between Us'' and described in her 2017 memoir ''I Am, I Am, I Am''. She suffered from a pronounced stammer during her childhood and adolescence. She was educated at

North Berwick High School North Berwick High School is a non-denominational state secondary school in North Berwick North Berwick (; gd, Bearaig a Tuath) is a seaside town and former royal burgh in East Lothian, Scotland. It is situated on the south shore of the F ...

and

Brynteg Comprehensive School Brynteg School ( cy, Ysgol Brynteg) is one of the largest secondary schools in Wales. It is located on Ewenny Road in Bridgend, Wales. The school is one of seven comprehensive schools in the County Borough of Bridgend and mainly receives pupils ...

, and then at New Hall, University of Cambridge (now

Murray Edwards College Murray Edwards College is a women-only constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It was founded in 1954 as New Hall. In 2008, following a donation of £30 million by alumna Ros Edwards and her husband Steve, it was renamed Murray Edwar ...

), where she read English Literature. O'Farrell has stated that well into the 1990s, being Irish in Britain could be fraught: "We used to get endless Irish jokes, even from teachers. If I had to spell my name at school, teachers would say things like, 'Oh, are your family in the IRA?’ Teachers would say this to a 12-year-old kid in front of the whole class.... They thought it was hilarious to say, 'Ha ha, your dad's a terrorist'. It wasn't funny at all.... I wish I could say that it's ess common todaybecause people are less racist, but I think it's just that there are new immigrants who are getting it now." Nevertheless, not until 2013's ''Instructions for a Heatwave'' did Irish subjects become part of her work. O'Farrell worked as a journalist, both in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and as deputy literary editor of ''

The Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'' in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. She also taught creative writing at the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded i ...

in Coventry and

Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

in London. She has lived in

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 ...

, Wales, Scotland, Hong Kong, and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. She now lives in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Books

O'Farrell's numerous successful novels, including the Costa-Award-winning ''The Hand that First Held Mine'', have received widespread critical acclaim. Her books have been translated into over 30 languages. Her novel '' Hamnet'', based on the life of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's family, was published in 2020. The novel makes a link between the death of eleven-year-old Hamnet and the writing of the play Hamlet. Her 2017 memoir, ''I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death'', deals with a series of near-death experiences that have occurred to her and her children. It is a memoir told non-chronologically, with each chapter headed by the name of the body part affected. In 2022, she published ''The Marriage Portrait'', a novel based on the short life of Lucrezia de' Medici, who may or may not have been poisoned by her husband, Alfonso II, Duke of Ferrara. O'Farrell has said that she got the idea for the novel after seeing Lucrezia's portrait, attributed to Agnolo Bronzino, and from reading Robert Browning's poem, My Last Duchess, in which Lucrezia makes a brief, silent and unnamed appearance. She has also written two pictures books for children, ''Where Snow Angels Go'' and ''The Boy Who Lost His Spark'', both illustrated by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini.

Personal life

O'Farrell is married to a fellow writer,

William Sutcliffe William Sutcliffe (born 9 March 1971) is a British novelist. He has written many acclaimed novels, spanning genres from satire to YA fiction. His 2008 book ''Whatever Makes You Happy'' has been adapted into a 2019 film by Netflix, under the titl ...

, whom she met while they were students at Cambridge; they didn't become a couple, however, until ten years or so after they graduated. They live in

with their three children. She has said of Sutcliffe: "Will's always been my first reader, even before we were a couple, so he's a huge influence. He's brutal but you need that." One of O'Farrell's children suffers with severe allergies, the challenges of which she writes about in her memoir.

Media

O'Farrell was the invited castaway on the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Radio 4 programme ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usu ...

'' on Sunday 21 March 2021.

Awards and honours

Bibliography

Novels

*''

'' (2000) *''My Lover's Lover'' (2002) *''The Distance Between Us'' (2004) *''The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox'' (2007) *'' The Hand That First Held Mine'' (2010) *''Instructions for a Heatwave'' (2013) *''This Must Be the Place'' (2016) *'' Hamnet'' (2020),

Tinder Press Headline Publishing Group is a British publishing brand and former company. It was founded in 1986 by Tim Hely Hutchinson. In 1993, Headline bought Hodder & Stoughton and the company became Hodder Headline Ltd. In 1999, Hodder Headline was acq ...

*''The Marriage Portrait'' (2022), Tinder Press

Autobiography/Memoir

*''I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death'' (2017)

For Children

*''Where Snow Angels G''o, Walker Books, illustrated by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini (2020) *''The Boy Who Lost His Spark'', Walker Books, illustrated by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini (2022)

References

External links

*
Maggie O'Farrell's Top 10 favourite chillers
in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' *
Maggie O'Farrell talks about ''The Distance between Us''
o
MeetThe Author.co.ukReview of ''Instructions for a Heatwave''Review of This Must Be the PlaceReseña Tiene que ser aquí en español, por Miryam Artigas
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ofarrell, Maggie 21st-century British novelists People educated at North Berwick High School 1972 births Living people People from Coleraine, County Londonderry Alumni of New Hall, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Women's Prize for Fiction Costa Book Award winners