Billy O'Callaghan
{{Short description|Irish short fiction writer (born 1974)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2015}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Billy O'Callaghan
| image = Billy O'Callaghan.jpg
| imagesize = 250px
| caption = Billy O'Callaghan (August 2016)
| pseudonym =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1974|12|9|df=y}}
| birth_place = Cork, Ireland
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = Writer
| nationality = Irish
| period = 1999–present
| genre =
| subject =
| movement = Irish Short Story
| notableworks = The Things We Lose, The Things We Leave Behind. My Coney Island Baby. Life Sentences
| influences =
| influenced =
| signature =
| website = {{URL|http://www.billyocallaghan.ie/en/bibliography/}}
}}
Billy O'Callaghan (born 9 December 1974) is an Irish short fiction writer and novelist. He is best known for his short-story collection The Things We Lose, The Things We Leave Behind, which was awarded the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Award for the short story in 2013
{{cite web
|last =
|first =
|title = Writing.ie Short Story of the Year
|url = http://www.irishbookawards.ie/writing-ie-short-story-of-the-year-award/
{{Cite news
|last =
|first =
|author-link =
|title = Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Award Winners
|newspaper = The Sunday Independent
|date = 2 December 2013
|url = http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/bord-gais-energy-irish-book-award-winners-29796591.html
{{cite web
|last =
|first =
|title = Irish Book Award Winners
|date =26 November 2013
|url = http://www.thejournal.ie/bord-gais-irish-book-awards-1194161-Nov2013/
|accessdate = }} and his widely translated novel My Coney Island Baby, which was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature's Encore Award.
Early life
Literary career
His first collection of short stories, In Exile, was published by Mercier Press in 2008.
{{Cite news
|last = McClements
|first = Freya
|author-link =
|title = PAPERBACKS
|newspaper = The Irish Times
|date = 24 January 2009
|url = http://www.irishtimes.com/news/paperbacks-1.1236757
}} This was followed a year later by a second collection, In Too Deep (also published by Mercier Press).
{{cite web
|last =
|first =
|title = Billy O'Callaghan, Mercier Press
|url = http://www.mercierpress.ie/authors/billyocallaghan/
|accessdate = }}{{Cite news
|last = Van Booy
|first = Simon
|author-link =
|title = In Too Deep Review
|newspaper = The Stinging Fly, Issue 15, Vol. 2
|date =
|url = http://www.stingingfly.org/issue/issue-15
}} In 2013, his third collection, The Things We Lose, The Things We Leave Behind, was published by New Island Books.{{Cite news
|last =
|first =
|author-link =
|title = No escape from reality in atmospheric fictions
|newspaper = The Irish Examiner
|date = 23 November 2013
|url = http://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/artsfilmtv/books/no-escape-from-reality-in-atmospheric-fictions-250471.html
|last = McLaughlin
|first = Danielle
|author-link =
|title = The Things We Lose, The Things We Leave Behind
|newspaper = Southword
|date =
|url = http://www.munsterlit.ie/Southword/Issues/25/things_we_lose.html
}} His short stories have been published in literary journals around the world,[https://forgelitmag.com/guest-author/billy_o__callaghan/ The Forge literary magazine, 28 March 2016] and translated into several other languages. His work has been broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1's The Book On One,
{{cite web
|last =
|first =
|title = RTÉ Radio 1: The Book On One
|website =RTÉ.ie
|url = http://www.rte.ie/radio1/book-on-one/programmes/2014/0616/624219-the-book-on-one-monday-16-20-june-2014/
|accessdate = }} Sunday Miscellany[https://www.rte.ie/radio1/sunday-miscellany/programmes/2013/1124/488514-sunday-miscellany-24-november-2013/ Sunday Miscellany 24 November 2013, RTE.] and the Francis McManus Award series.[https://www.rte.ie/radio1/francis-macmanus-short-story/programmes/2015/1102/738219-francis-macmanus-short-story-monday-2-november-2015/ Francis McManus short story, RTE, 2 November 2015.]
In 2017, Ploughshares published O'Callaghan's story A Death in the Family as a Ploughshares Solo.{{Cite web|url=https://www.pshares.org/solos/death-family-64|title=A Death in the Family (6.4) {{!}} Ploughshares|website=www.pshares.org|access-date=2019-08-01}}
O'Callaghan's first novel, The Dead House, was published in Ireland by Brandon, an imprint of O'Brien Press, in 2017, and in North America by Arcade Publishing in 2018.{{cite web
|last =
|first =
|title = Billy O'Callaghan {{pipe}} Author Rights Agency
|url = http://www.authorrightsagency.com/?page_id=336
|accessdate =
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160418073445/http://www.authorrightsagency.com/?page_id=336
|archive-date = 18 April 2016
|url-status = dead
His novel, My Coney Island Baby, was published in 2019, by Jonathan Cape (UK){{Cite web |url=https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1116117/my-coney-island-baby/9781787330917.html |title=Penguin Books site. |access-date=18 October 2018 |archive-date=19 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181019041237/https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1116117/my-coney-island-baby/9781787330917.html |url-status=dead }} and Harper (USA),[https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062856562/my-coney-island-baby/ Harper Collins site.] as well as in French by Éditions Grasset as Les amants de Coney Island, translated by Carine Chichereau,[https://www.grasset.fr/les-amants-de-coney-island-9782246817574 Grasset site.] Dutch by Ambo Anthos as Mijn lief op Coney Island, translated by Lette Vos,[https://www.amboanthos.nl/boek/mijn-lief-op-coney-island/ Ambo Anthos site] German by btb Verlag as Die Liebenden von Coney Island, translated by Sibylle Schmidt[https://www.randomhouse.de/Buch/Die-Liebenden-von-Coney-Island/Billy-OCallaghan/btb-Hardcover/e567293.rhd/ Random House site] Czech by Nakladatelství Paseka as Náš Coney Island, translated by Petr Eliáš,[https://www.paseka.cz/billy-o-callaghan-nas-coney-island/produkt-4833/ Paseka site.] Catalan by L'Altra Editorial as Els amants de Coney Island, translated by Ferran Ràfols Gesa,[https://www.laltraeditorial.cat/llibre/els-amants-de-coney-island/ L'Altra Editorial site] Italian by Guanda Editore as My Coney Island Baby, translated by Ada Arduini,{{Cite web|url=https://www.guanda.it/libri/billy-o-callaghan-my-coney-island-baby-9788823524811/|title=My Coney Island baby}} Hungarian by Jelenkor as Szerelmem, Coney Island, translated by Zoltán Pék{{Cite book|url=https://jelenkor.libricsoport.hu/fooldal/konyvek/szerelmem-coney-island/|isbn=9789636767815|title=Szerelmem, Coney Island|last1=O'Callaghan |first1=Billy |year=2022 }} and in Turkish by Othello Kitap as Coney Island Bebeğim, translated by Serkan Toy.[://kidega.com/kitap/coney-island-bebegim-385396/]
A new short story collection, The Boatman and Other Stories, was published in January 2020 by Jonathan Cape (UK)[https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1116115/the-boatman-and-other-stories/9781787330900.html Penguin Books site.] and Harper Perennial (USA).[https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062856609/the-boatman-and-other-stories/ Harper Collins site.]
A new novel Life Sentences was published in 2021 by Jonathan Cape (UK)[https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/1082534/billy-o-callaghan.html Penguin Books site.] and in Czech by Nakladatelství Paseka as Doživotí, translated by Petr Eliáš,[https://www.paseka.cz/billy-o-callaghan-dozivoti/produkt-8915/ Paseka site.] and in 2022 in the US by David R. Godine.[https://godine.com/book/life-sentences/ Godine site.]
Awards
In November 2013, "The Things We Lose, The Things We Leave Behind" won the inaugural Short Story of the Year Award at the 2013 Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Award; "Down by the River" was selected in 2014 as Ireland's representative in the ongoing UNESCO Cities of Literature project;{{cite web|title =Down by the River eftir Billy O'Callaghan|url =http://bokmenntaborgin.is/river-eftir-billy-ocallaghan/|url-status =dead|archiveurl =https://web.archive.org/web/20150324201722/http://bokmenntaborgin.is/river-eftir-billy-ocallaghan/|archivedate =24 March 2015|df =dmy-all}} and "The Boatman" was a finalist for the 2016 Costa Short Story Award.[https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/irish-writers-on-costa-short-story-award-shortlist-1.2951066 Irish writers on Costa short story award list, Irish Times, 26 January 2017.] In June 2020, My Coney Island Baby was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature's Encore Award.{{Cite web|url=https://rsliterature.org/award/rsl-encore-award/|title = The Encore Award}}
Bibliography
=Short story collections=
- In Exile (2008)
- In Too Deep (2009)
- The Things We Lose, The Things We Leave Behind (2013)
- The Boatman and Other Stories (2020)
=Novels=
- The Dead House (2017)
- My Coney Island Baby (2019)
- Life Sentences (2021)
- The Paper Man (2023)
References
{{reflist|30em}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:OCallaghan, Billy}}
Category:21st-century Irish novelists
Category:21st-century Irish male writers
Category:Irish male short story writers
Category:21st-century Irish travel writers
Category:Writers from Cork (city)