Maggie O'Farrell, RSL (born 27 May 1972), is a novelist from
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
. 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 Y ...
'', 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 at least , with normally one author receiving a larger prize amount ( ...
, 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 Booksellers Limited, trading as Waterstones (formerly Waterstone's), is a British bookselling, book retailer based in London, England, owned by the American investment group Elliott Investment Management. It operates 311 shops, ma ...
''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 Sunday 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 N ...
Women's Prize for Fiction
The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 and 2009–2012), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017) is one of the United Kingdom's ...
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". ''The Marriage Portrait'' was shortlisted for the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction.
Early life and career
O'Farrell was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, and grew up in
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
and
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
. At the age of eight she was hospitalised with
encephalitis
Encephalitis is inflammation of the Human brain, brain. The severity can be variable with symptoms including reduction or alteration in consciousness, aphasia, headache, fever, confusion, a stiff neck, and vomiting. Complications may include se ...
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 and Brynteg Comprehensive School, 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 and renamed in 2008. The name honours a gift of £30 million by alumna Ros Edwards and her husband Steve, and the firs ...
), 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)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
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 city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. 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 and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...
in Coventry and
Goldsmiths College
Goldsmiths, University of London, formerly Goldsmiths College, University of London, is a Member institutions of the University of London, constituent research university of the University of London. It was originally founded in 1891 as The G ...
in London. She has lived in
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
, Wales, Scotland, Hong Kong, and
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. She now lives in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
.
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 ( 23 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 natio ...
'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.
From 2020 to 2022, O'Farrell published two pictures books for children, ''Where Snow Angels Go'' and ''The Boy Who Lost His Spark'', both illustrated by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini.
O'Farrell was the invited castaway on the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
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 audio recordin ...
'' in March 2021.
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
Agnolo di Cosimo (; 17 November 150323 November 1572), usually known as Bronzino ( ) or Agnolo Bronzino, was an Italians, Italian Mannerism, Mannerist painter from Florence. His sobriquet, ''Bronzino'', may refer to his relatively dark skin or r ...
, and from reading
Robert Browning
Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian literature, Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentar ...
's poem, " My Last Duchess", in which Lucrezia makes a brief, silent and unnamed appearance. The novel was shortlisted for the
Women's Prize for Fiction
The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 and 2009–2012), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017) is one of the United Kingdom's ...
.
In 2023 O'Farrell won the author award at
Harper's Bazaar
''Harper's Bazaar'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...
's Women of the Year awards.
In April 2023, the
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratf ...
's stage adaptation of ''Hamnet'' previewed at the newly opened Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. It transferred to the Garrick Theatre, London, in September 2023.
In January 2024, it was reported that
Chloé Zhao
Chloé Zhao (born Zhao Ting; 31 March 1982) is a Chinese-born filmmaker. She is known primarily for her work on independent films. Zhao is the second of three women to win the Academy Award for Best Director for her film Nomadland.
'' Songs ...
was planning to adapt Hamnet for the screen alongside O'Farrell.
Paul Mescal
Paul Colm Michael Mescal ( ; born 2 February 1996) is an Irish actor. His accolades include two BAFTA Awards, a Laurence Olivier Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Born in Maynooth, he studied ...
and
Jessie Buckley
Jessie Buckley (born December 28, 1989) is an Irish actress and singer. The accolades she has received include a Laurence Olivier Award, and nominations for an Academy Award and three BAFTA Awards.
Buckley began her career in 2008 as a contes ...
were reported as being chosen for the leading roles.
In May 2024,
Audrey Diwan
Audrey Diwan (; born 1980) is a French film director of Lebanese origin. Prior to becoming a film director, she worked as a journalist and a screenwriter. In 2021, her film ''Happening'' won the Golden Lion at the 78th Venice International Fi ...
was attached to direct a film adaptation of ''The Marriage Portrait''.
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
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
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.
Awards and honours
Literary awards
Other honors
* 2021
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the ...
Bibliography
Novels
*''
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 Y ...
'' (2000)
*''My Lover's Lover'' (2002)
*''The Distance Between Us'' (2004)
*'' The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox'' (2006)
*'' The Hand That First Held Mine'' (2010)
*''Instructions for a Heatwave'' (2013)
*''This Must Be the Place'' (2016)
*'' Hamnet'' (2020), Tinder Press
*''The Marriage Portrait'' (2022), Tinder Press
Autobiography/Memoir
*''I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death'' (2017)
For Children
*''Where Snow Angels Go'', (mini-review of ''Where Snow Angels Go'' with display of illustrated book from 2:09 to 2:53 in video) Walker Books, illustrated by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini (2020)
*''The Boy Who Lost His Spark'', Walker Books, illustrated by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini (2022)
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...