Mark O'Connell (born 23 June 1979) is an Irish author and journalist. His debut book, ''To Be A Machine'', was published in 2017, followed by ''Notes From an Apocalypse'' in 2020. His third book, ''A Thread of Violence'', was published in 2023. He has written for publications including ''
The New Yorker'', ''
The New York Times Magazine'', ''
The New York Review of Books'', and ''
The Guardian''. He is also the author of the Kindle Single ''Epic Fail: Bad Art, Viral Fame, and the History of the Worst Thing Ever'' (Byliner/The Millions), as well as an academic study of the novels of
John Banville.
Education and personal life
O’Connell was born in
Kilkenny
Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512.
Kilken ...
in 1979, and grew up there. His father worked as a pharmacist. O’Connell has an older brother and a younger sister. He studied English at
Trinity College Dublin (TCD), completed a PhD in the novels of
John Banville, and graduated in 2011. He lives in
Dublin.
Major works
In 2017, O'Connell published ''
To Be a Machine: Adventures Among Cyborgs, Utopians, Hackers, and the Futurists Solving the Modest Problem of Death'' (ISBN 9781783781973). Described by the ''
New York Times Book Review
''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...
'' as "a gonzo-journalistic exploration of the Silicon Valley techno-utopians’ pursuit of escaping mortality", it is an investigation of
transhumanism. It was the winner of the 2018 Wellcome Book Prize, and the Rooney Prize in 2019.
O'Connell's second book, published in 2020, is ''
Notes From an Apocalypse'' (OCLC: 1097672923).
An investigative and deeply personal book about apocalyptic anxieties, it was described by ''Esquire'' as "deeply funny and life-affirming, with a warm, generous outlook even on the most challenging of subjects."
His third book, ''A Thread of Violence'' (ISBN 9780385547628), about the Irish murderer Malcolm Macarthur, was published in 2023.
;Essays
O'Connell has written noteworthy essays for ''
The New York Times Magazine'' on the subjects of pessimism and parenthood, and the TV show "
Game of Thrones
''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the first ...
", and for ''
The Guardian'' on turning 40, and the benefits of isolation.
Awards
O'Connell has been awarded the
Wellcome Book Prize
Wellcome Book Prize (2009–2019 — paused) is an annual British literary award sponsored by Wellcome Trust. In keeping with the vision and goals of Wellcome Trust, the Book Prize "celebrates the topics of health and medicine in literature", inc ...
and the
Rooney Prize for Irish Literature.
''To Be a Machine'' was a finalist for the 2017 Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize and was shortlisted for the 2017
Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction.
Adaptations
In 2020, it was announced that a theatrical adaptation of ''
To Be a Machine'' was to be performed as part of
Dublin Theatre Festival. Titled ''To Be a Machine (Version 1.0)'', the adaptation by theatre company Dead Centre saw O'Connell's character played by
Jack Gleeson. Owing to the
Covid-19 pandemic, the performance was online only, with audience members uploading themselves into the theatre.
Bibliography
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[Online version is titled "Cartoon Saloon and the new Golden Age of animation".]
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;Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:OConnell, Mark
1979 births
Living people
21st-century Irish writers
The New Yorker people