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Tana French (born 10 May 1973) is an American-Irish writer and theatrical actress. She is a longtime resident of
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 cen ...
,
Ireland 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 s ...
. Her debut novel ''
In the Woods ''In the Woods'' is a 2007 mystery novel by Tana French about a pair of Irish detectives and their investigation of the murder of a twelve-year-old girl. It is the first book in French's Dublin Murder Squad series. The novel won several awar ...
'' (2007), a psychological mystery, won the
Edgar Edgar is a commonly used English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Eadgar'' (composed of '' ead'' "rich, prosperous" and ''gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the later medieval period; it was, however, rev ...
,
Anthony Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the '' Antonii'', a ''gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants of Anton, ...
,
Macavity Macavity the Mystery Cat, also called the Hidden Paw, is a fictional character in T. S. Eliot's 1939 poetry book ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats''. He also appears in the Andrew Lloyd Webber 1981 musical ''Cats'', which is based on Eliot ...
, and Barry awards for best first novel. ''
The Independent ''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 ...
'' has referred to her as "the First Lady of Irish Crime".


Personal life

Tana Elizabeth French was born in
Burlington, Vermont Burlington is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the seat of Chittenden County. It is located south of the Canada–United States border and south of Montreal. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 44,743. It ...
, to Elena Hvostoff-Lombardi and David French. Her father was an
economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...
who worked on
resource management In organizational studies, resource management is the efficient and effective development of an organization's resources when they are needed. Such resources may include the financial resources, inventory, human skills, production resources, or i ...
for the
developing world A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...
, and she lived in numerous countries as a child including Ireland, Italy, the US and
Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...
. French attended
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 ...
, and trained in acting. She settled in Ireland and has lived in Dublin since 1990. French and her husband have two daughters.


Novels

French was enthralled by both acting and writing since her childhood but eventually focused more on acting. She grew up reading mystery and crime novels. She trained as a professional actor at Trinity, and she works in theatre, film, and voiceover. In her later 30s, her passion for writing was rekindled. She began writing her
debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...
in the months-long lulls between castings; ''
In the Woods ''In the Woods'' is a 2007 mystery novel by Tana French about a pair of Irish detectives and their investigation of the murder of a twelve-year-old girl. It is the first book in French's Dublin Murder Squad series. The novel won several awar ...
'' was published in 2007 to international acclaim and received rave reviews from many publications. ''
Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
'' praised French, saying she "expertly walks the line between police procedural and psychological thriller in her debut" and that "Ryan and Maddox are empathetic and flawed heroes, whose partnership and friendship elevate the narrative beyond a gory tale of murdered children and repressed childhood trauma." It received several literary prizes, was a bestseller in hardcover and paperback, and has been termed a 'dream debut'. As of 2015 more than one million copies of ''In the Woods'' have been sold. ''
Flavorwire ''Flavorwire'' is a New York City-based online culture magazine. The site includes original feature articles, interviews, reviews, as well as content recycled from other sources. ''Flavorwire'' describes themselves as "a network of culturally con ...
'', in 2014, included it in their ''50 of the Greatest Debut Novels Since 1950''. The second novel, '' The Likeness'' (2008), presents the story of the debut novel's co-lead, Cassie Maddox. It quickly achieved high positions on bestseller lists in various countries and stayed on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list for several months. In its reviews of the novel, ''Kirkus'' praised its mix of "police procedures, psychological thrills and gothic romance beautifully woven into one stunning story". In an interview with ''
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 G ...
'', French stated that Donna Tartt's ''
The Secret History ''The Secret History'' is the first novel by the American author Donna Tartt, published by Alfred A. Knopf in September 1992. Set in New England, the campus novel tells the story of a closely knit group of six classics students at Hampden Colle ...
'' was a source of influence on '' The Likeness'', opening up the "landscape of friendship as something worthy of exploration and something that could be powerful enough to trigger a murder." The first six novels are part of the Dublin Murder Squad series. After publishing ''The Trespasser'' in 2016, French published two standalone novels. Both ''The Witch Elm'' and ''The Searcher'' also take place in Ireland.


Awards


Television

In 2015,
Euston Films Euston Films is a British film and television production company. It was originally a subsidiary company of Thames Television, and operated from 1971 to 1994, producing various series for Thames, which were screened nationally on the ITV network. ...
& Veritas acquired TV production rights.
Sarah Phelps Sarah Phelps is a British television screenwriter, radio writer, playwright and television producer. She is best known for her work on ''EastEnders'', a number of BBC serial adaptations including Agatha Christie's '' The Witness For the Prosecut ...
wrote the screenplay, which she based on both ''
In the Woods ''In the Woods'' is a 2007 mystery novel by Tana French about a pair of Irish detectives and their investigation of the murder of a twelve-year-old girl. It is the first book in French's Dublin Murder Squad series. The novel won several awar ...
'' and '' The Likeness'', for the eight-episode series of '' Dublin Murders'', commissioned by the
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. ...
for BBC One and Starz, with
RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while ...
later joining the project. Filming commenced in 2018 in
Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
and
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 cen ...
and continued in Dublin to late February 2019. Broadcast began on BBC One on 14 October 2019, on RTÉ One on 16 October 2019, and on Starz on 10 November 2019.


References


External links

* *
Theme issue of ''Clues: A Journal of Detection'' on “Tana French and Irish Crime Fiction” (vol. 32, no. 1, 2014)Interview with Tana French in Shots Ezine July 2012
{{DEFAULTSORT:French, Tana 1973 births Writers from Burlington, Vermont Alumni of Trinity College Dublin American emigrants to Ireland Irish women novelists Irish crime fiction writers Women mystery writers Irish stage actresses Edgar Award winners Anthony Award winners Macavity Award winners Barry Award winners 21st-century Irish women writers 21st-century Irish novelists 21st-century Irish actresses Living people Tana French