Emma Donoghue (born 24 October 1969) is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

playwright, literary historian, novelist, and screenwriter. Her 2010 novel ''

Room In a building or large vehicle, like a ship, a room is any enclosed space within a number of walls to which entry is possible only via a door or other dividing structure that connects it to either a passageway, another room, or the outdoors, that ...

'' was a finalist for the

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 prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...

and an international best-seller. Donoghue's 1995 novel '' Hood'' won the

Stonewall Book Award The Stonewall Book Award is a set of three literary awards that annually recognize "exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience" in English-language books published in the U.S. They are sponsored by the Rainbow ...

and ''Slammerkin'' (2000) won the

Ferro-Grumley Award The Ferro-Grumley Award is an annual literary award, presented by Publishing Triangle and the Ferro-Grumley Foundation to a book deemed the year's best work of LGBT fiction. The award is presented in memory of writers Robert Ferro and Michael Grum ...

for Lesbian Fiction. She is a 2011 recipient of the

Alex Awards The Alex Awards annually recognize "ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults ages 12 through 18". Essentially, the award is a listing by the American Library Association parallel to its annual Best Books for Young A ...

. ''Room'' was adapted by Donoghue into a film of the same name. For this, she was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay Film adaptation, adapted from previously established material. The most frequently adapted media are novels, but other adapted narrative formats include st ...

Background

Donoghue was born in

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 ...

, Ireland, in 1969. The youngest of eight children, she is the daughter of Frances (born Rutledge) and academic and literary critic Denis Donoghue. She has a first-class honours Bachelor of Arts degree from

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 member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...

(in English and French) and a PhD in English from

Girton College, Cambridge Girton College is one of the 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college in Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college statu ...

. While at Cambridge she lived in a women's co-operative, an experience which inspired her short story "The Welcome". Her thesis was on friendship between men and women in 18th-century fiction. At Cambridge, she met her future wife, Christine Roulston, a Canadian who is now professor of French and Women's Studies at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...

. They moved permanently to Canada in 1998 and Donoghue became a Canadian citizen in 2004. She lives in

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximat ...

, with Roulston and their two children.

Influences and approach to writing

Donoghue has spoken of the importance of the writing of

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...

, of

Jeanette Winterson Jeanette Winterson (born 27 August 1959) is an English writer. Her first book, '' Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit'', was a semi-autobiographical novel about a sensitive teenage girl rebelling against convention. Other novels explore gender pol ...

's novel '' The Passion'' and

Alan Garner Alan Garner (born 17 October 1934) is an English novelist best known for his children's fantasy novels and his retellings of traditional British folk tales. Much of his work is rooted in the landscape, history and folklore of his native coun ...

's ''

Red Shift In physics, a redshift is an increase in the wavelength, and corresponding decrease in the frequency and photon energy, of electromagnetic radiation (such as light). The opposite change, a decrease in wavelength and simultaneous increase in fr ...

'' in the development of her work. She says that she aims to be "industrious and unpretentious" about the process of writing, and that her working life has changed since having children.

Works

''Stir Fry'' and ''Hood''

Donoghue's first novel was 1994's ''Stir Fry'', a contemporary coming of age novel about a young Irish woman discovering her sexuality. It was a finalist for the

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ literature.The awards were instituted i ...

in 1994. This was followed in 1995 by '' Hood'', another contemporary story, this time about an Irish woman coming to terms with the death of her girlfriend. ''Hood'' won the 1997

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members ...

's Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Book Award for Literature (now known as the

for Literature).

''Slammerkin''

''Slammerkin'' (2000) is a historical novel set in London and Wales. Inspired by an 18th-century newspaper story about a young servant who killed her employer and was executed, the protagonist is a prostitute who longs for fine clothes. It was a finalist in the 2001 ''

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' Irish Literature Prize for Fiction and was awarded the 2002

for Lesbian Fiction (despite a lack of lesbian content).

''Landing''

Her 2007 novel, ''Landing'', portrays a long-distance relationship between a Canadian curator and an Irish flight attendant.

''The Sealed Letter''

''The Sealed Letter'' (2008), another work of historical fiction, is based on the Codrington Affair, a scandalous divorce case that gripped Britain in 1864. The protagonist is

Emily Faithfull Emily Faithfull (27 May 1835 – 31 May 1895) was an English women's rights activist who set up the Victoria Press to publish the '' English Woman's Journal''. Biography Emily Faithfull was born on 27 May 1835 at Headley Rectory, Surrey. She w ...

. ''The Sealed Letter'' was longlisted for the

Giller Prize The Giller Prize (sponsored as the Scotiabank Giller Prize), is a literary award given to a Canadian author of a novel or short story collection published in English (including translation) the previous year, after an annual juried competition b ...

, and was joint winner, with

Chandra Mayor Chandra Mayor (born in 1973), is a Canadians, Canadian poet and novelist whose writings explore urban culture, urban and alternative culture, alternative cultures, among others. She lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Publishing career Mayor's writin ...

's ''All the Pretty Girls'', of the 2009 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction.

''Room''

On 27 July 2010, Donoghue's novel ''

'' was longlisted for the

Man 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 prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...

and on 7 September 2010 it made the

shortlist A short list or shortlist is a list of candidates for a job, prize, award, political position, etc., that has been reduced from a longer list of candidates (sometimes via intermediate lists known as "long lists"). The length of short lists varie ...

. On 2 November 2010, it was announced that ''Room'' had been awarded the

Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize The Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, formerly known as the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, is a Canadian literary award presented by the Writers' Trust of Canada after an annual juried competition of works submitted by publishers. A ...

. ''Room'' was also shortlisted for the

2010 Governor General's Awards The shortlisted nominees for the 2010 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit were announced on October 13, and winning titles were announced on November 16.Irish Book Award 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. ...

2010. It was short-listed for the

Orange 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 ...

2011, but lost out to

Tea Obreht Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and norther ...

. Donoghue later wrote the screenplay for a film version of the book, ''

'' (2015), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award, Golden Globe and Bafta Award, and in 2017 adapted it into a play performed at the

Abbey Theatre The Abbey Theatre ( ga, Amharclann na Mainistreach), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland ( ga, Amharclann Náisiúnta na hÉireann), in Dublin, Ireland, is one of the country's leading cultural institutions. First opening to the p ...

in Dublin.

''Frog Music''

Donoghue's novel ''Frog Music'', a historical fiction book based on the true story of a murdered 19th-century cross-dressing frog catcher, was published in 2014.

''The Wonder''

Donoghue's 2016 novel ''The Wonder'' was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. It describes a case of ''

Anorexia mirabilis Anorexia mirabilis, also known as holy anorexia or inedia prodigiosa or colloquially as fasting girls, is an eating disorder, similar to that of anorexia nervosa, that was common in, but not restricted to, the Middle Ages in Europe, largely affec ...

'' in which an English nurse is brought in to observe a

fasting girl A fasting girl was one of a number of young Victorian era girls, usually pre-adolescent, who claimed to be able to survive over indefinitely long periods of time without consuming any food or other nourishment. In addition to refusing food, fasti ...

in a devout Irish family; the after effects of the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

, in which the protagonist served, and the Great Famine, in which the family suffered, cast their shadows. A film of the novel was released in autumn 2022. Directed by

Sebastián Lelio Sebastián Lelio Watt (born 8 March 1974) is a Chilean director, screenwriter, editor and producer. He received critical acclaim for directing the films ''Gloria'' (2013) and ''A Fantastic Woman'' (2017), the latter of which won an Academy Award ...

, the screenplay is by Donoghue and

Alice Birch Alice Birch is a British playwright and screenwriter. Birch has written several plays, including ''Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again.'' for which she was awarded the George Devine Award for Most Promising New Playwright, and ''Anatomy of a Suicide' ...

, with

Florence Pugh Florence Pugh ( ; born 3 January 1996) is an English actress. She made her acting debut in 2014 in the drama film '' The Falling''. Pugh gained recognition in 2016 for her leading role as a young bride in the independent drama ''Lady Macbeth' ...

in the leading role. Critic Clare McCallan, in her review of the film adaptation, criticized the novel's oppressor-turned-savior narrative of a British nurse seeking to help enlighten Irish people about hoax miracles, stating that "If Nurse Lib had been named Maebhe Coyle, returning back to her memory-haunted hometown, then this might have been a moving story instead of a lesson in self-indulgence."

''Akin''

''Akin'' (2019) is a contemporary novel, though with much discussion of events during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

in France. Alex Preston 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 ...

'' called it "dispiriting".

''The Pull of the Stars''

Donoghue's novel ''The Pull of the Stars'' (2020), written in 2018-2019, was published earlier than originally planned because it was set in the

1918 influenza pandemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

, Ireland. All the characters were fictional except Dr

Kathleen Lynn Kathleen Florence Lynn (28 January 1874 – 14 September 1955) was an Irish Sinn Féin politician, activist and medical doctor. Lynn was so greatly affected by the poverty and disease among the poor in the west of Ireland that, at 16, she decid ...

. The novel received strongly positive reviews from critics and was longlisted for the Giller Prize in 2020.

''Haven''

This novel, published in 2022, is set among monks in the seventh century on

Skellig Michael Skellig Michael ( ga, Sceilg Mhichíl ), also called Great Skellig ( ga, link=no, Sceilig Mhór ), is a twin-pinnacled crag west of the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. The island is named after the archangel Michael, with "Skellig ...

. Hephzibah Anderson, in ''The Guardian'', wrote that "While ''Haven'' certainly isn’t her most accessible novel, a flinty kind of hope brightens its satisfying ending. What the reader is likely to take away, however, is the image of a bleak place made still bleaker by human intervention".

Bibliography

Novels

* ''Stir Fry'' (1994) * ''Hood'' (1995) * '' Slammerkin'' (2000) * ''Life Mask'' (2004) * ''Landing'' (2007) * ''The Sealed Letter'' (2008) * ''

'' (2010) * ''Frog Music'' (2014) * ''The Wonder'' (2016) * ''The Lotterys'' series: *# ''The Lotterys Plus One'' (2017) *# ''The Lotterys More or Less'' (2018) * ''Akin'' (2019) * '' The Pull of the Stars'' (2020) * ''Haven'' (2022)

Short stories

Collections: * ''Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins'', AKA ''Kissing the Witch'' (1997), collection of 13 short stories: *: "The Tale of the Shoe", "The Tale of the Bird", "The Tale of the Rose", "The Tale of the Apple", "The Tale of the Handkerchief", "The Tale of the Hair", "The Tale of the Brother", "The Tale of the Spinster", "The Tale of the Cottage", "The Tale of the Skin", "The Tale of the Needle", "The Tale of the Voice", "The Tale of the Kiss" * ''The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits'' (2002), collection of 17 short stories: *: "Acts of Union", "Account", "Ballad", "Come, Gentle Night", "Cured", "Dido", "The Last Rabbit", "The Necessity of Burning", "Revelations", "Salvage", "Night Vision", "Figures of Speech", "A Short Story", "The Fox on the Line", "How a Lady Dies", "Looking for Petronilla", "Words for Things" * ''Touchy Subjects'' (2006), collection of 19 short stories: *: "The Dormition of the Virgin", "Baggage", "WritOr", "Lavender's Blue", "Through the Night", "The Man Who Wrote on Beaches", "Do They Know It's Christmas", "Good Deed", "The Sanctuary of Hands", "Necessary Noise", "Pluck", "Team Men", "Enchantment", "The Welcome", "Oops", "The Cost of Things", "Speaking in Tongues", "Touchy Subjects", "Expecting" * ''Three and a Half Deaths'' (2011), collection of 4 short stories: *: "What the Driver Saw", "The Trap", "Sissy", "Fall" * ''Astray'' (2012), collection of 14 short stories: *: "The Lost Seed", "The Widow's Cruse", "The Hunt", "Vanitas", "Counting the Days", "Last Supper at Brown's", "Onward", "The Body Swap", "The Long Way Home", "Man and Boy", "Snowblind", "The Gift", "Daddy's Girl", "What Remains" Uncollected short stories: * "Going Back" (1993) * "Seven Pictures Not Taken" (1996) * "Error Messages" (1999) * "Thicker Than Water" (2001) * "Here and Now" (2006) * "Dear Lang" (2009) in '' How Beautiful the Ordinary: Twelve Stories of Identity'' (ed. Michael Chart) * "Tableau Vivant" (2010) * "Visiting Hours" (2011), based on her radio play "The Modern Family" * "Urban Myths" (2012), based on her homonymous radio play * "Spelled Backward" (2012) * "Since First I Saw Your Face" (2016) * "The Big Cheese" (2017)

Plays

Collections: * ''Emma Donoghue: Selected Plays'' (2015), collection of 5 plays: *: "Kissing the Witch" (based on 5 short stories of her homonymous collection), "Don't Die Wondering" (based on her homonymous radio play), "Trespasses" (based on her homonymous radio play), "Ladies and Gentlemen", "I Know My Own Heart" Uncollected plays: * "Trespasses" (1996), radio play * "Don't Die Wondering" (2000), radio play * ''Exes'' series (2001), radio plays: ** "Urban Myths" ** "The Modern Family" ** "The Conspiracy" ** "The Mothers" ** "The Estate Agent" * "Humans and Other Animals" (2003), radio play * "Mix" (2003), radio play * "The Talk of the Town" (2012) * "Signatories" (2016) * "

" (2017), based on her homonymous novel

Screenplays

* ''Pluck'' (2001) * ''

'' (2015) * '' The Wonder'' (2022)

Non-fiction

;Articles: * "Out of Order: Kate O'Brien's Lesbian Fictions" in ''Ordinary People Dancing'', ed. by Eibhear Walsh (Cork: Cork University Press, 1993) * "Noises from Woodsheds: The Muffled Voices of Irish Lesbian Fiction" in ''Volcanoes and Pearl Divers'', ed. by Suzanne Raitt (London: Onlywomen Press, 1994) * "Liberty in Chains: The Diaries of Anne Lister (1817-24)" in ''Breaking the Barriers to Desire'' (Nottingham: Five Leaves Press, 1995) * "Divided Heart, Divided History: Eighteenth-Century Bisexual Heroines" in ''Bisexual Horizons: Politics, Histories, Lives'', ed. by Sharon Rose, Cris Stevens et al. (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1996) * "How Could I Fear and Hold Thee by the Hand? The Poetry of Eva Gore-Booth" in ''Sex, Nation and Dissent in Irish Writing'', ed. by Eibhear Walshe (Cork: Cork University Press, 1997) * "A Tale of Two Annies" in ''Butch/Femme: Inside Lesbian Gender'', ed. by Sally Munt (London: Cassell, 1998) * Articles on ''Anne Lister'', ''Ladies of Llangollen'' and ''Jane Pirie and Marianne Woods'', in ''Lesbian Histories and Cultures: An Encyclopedia'', ed. by Bonnie Zimmerman (New York and London: Garland, 2000) * Introduction to Virago Modern Classics edition of Molly Keane, ''Time After Time'' (London: Virago, 2001) * Introduction to Virago Modern Classics edition of Polly Devlin, ''All of Us There'' (London: Virago, 2003) * Introduction to Isabel Miller, ''Patience and Sarah'' (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2005) * "Doing Lesbian History, Then and Now" in ''Historical Reflections / Reflexions Historiques'' (Vol. 33, No. 1, Spring 2007) * "Picking Up Broken Glass, or, Turning Lesbian History into Fiction" in ''Sapphists and Sexologists: Histories of Sexualities Volume 2'', ed. Sonja Tiernan and Mary McAuliffe (Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2009) * "Embraces of Love" in ''Faithful Companions: Collected Essays Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Kate O'Brien Literary Weekend'', ed. Mary Coll (Limerick: Mellick Press, 2009) * "Random Shafts of Malice?: the Outings of Anne Damer" in ''Lesbian Dames: Sapphism in the Long Eighteenth Century'', ed. by John C. Beynon and Caroline Gonda (Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2010) ;Biographies: * ''We Are Michael Field'' (1998) ;History: * ''Passions Between Women: British Lesbian Culture 1668–1801'' (1993) * ''Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature'' (2010)

Works edited

* ''What Sappho Would Have Said'' (1997) * ''The Mammoth Book Of Lesbian Short Stories'' (1999)

Adaptations

* ''Pluck'' (2001), short directed by

Neasa Hardiman Neasa Hardiman is an Irish director of both fiction and nonfiction, predominantly known for her television work. Hardiman began her career producing a number of shows for the RTÉ network in Ireland and has since worked on both British and Ame ...

, based on short story "Pluck" * ''

'' (2015), film directed by Lenny Abrahamson, based on novel ''

'' * ''The Wonder'' (2022), Netflix movie directed by

, based on the 2016 novel Wonder

References

External links

*
''Newsweek'' article on ''Room'', Sept. 2010

Donoghue's UK publisher
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Donoghue, Emma 1969 births Living people Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge Canadian women dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Canadian historians Canadian women novelists Irish dramatists and playwrights Irish emigrants to Canada 20th-century Irish historians Irish women non-fiction writers Irish women novelists Irish women short story writers 20th-century Irish short story writers Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction winners Stonewall Book Award winners Canadian lesbian writers LGBT historians LGBT writers from Ireland People from Mount Merrion Canadian women short story writers 20th-century Irish dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Irish novelists 21st-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian women writers LGBT dramatists and playwrights Canadian LGBT novelists 21st-century Canadian short story writers Canadian women screenwriters Irish screenwriters Writers from London, Ontario LGBT screenwriters Independent Spirit Award winners Best Screenplay Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Canadian women non-fiction writers Canadian women historians Writers of historical fiction set in the early modern period Writers of historical fiction set in the modern age 21st-century Canadian screenwriters