Megan Nolan
{{Short description|Irish journalist and novelist (born 1990)}}
{{use DMY dates|date=July 2023}}{{Use Hiberno-English|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox writer
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1990}}
| birth_place = County Waterford, Ireland
| occupation = Journalist, novelist
| notable_works = Acts of Desperation (2021)
}}
Megan Nolan (born 1990)https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19607931.Megan_Nolan is an Irish polemicist, journalist, and author from County Waterford. Her debut novel, Acts of Desperation,{{Cite web |last=Feigel |first=Lara |date=March 3, 2021 |title=Acts of Desperation by Megan Nolan review – learning to say no |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/mar/03/acts-of-desperation-by-megan-nolan-review-learning-to-say-no |website=TheGuardian.com}} was longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize{{Cite web |title=Diverse and global voices dominate the longlist for the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize |url=https://www.swansea.ac.uk/press-office/news-events/news/2021/02/diverse-and-global-voices-dominate-the-longlist-for-the-swansea-university-dylan-thomas-prize-.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220203223930/https://www.swansea.ac.uk/press-office/news-events/news/2021/02/diverse-and-global-voices-dominate-the-longlist-for-the-swansea-university-dylan-thomas-prize-.php |archive-date=2022-02-03 |access-date=2022-02-04 |website=Swansea.ac.uk |language=en-GB}} and was one of the four awardees of the 2022 Betty Trask Award for debut novels.
Biography
Nolan's father Jim Nolan was a theatre director and founder of the Red Kettle theatre company based in Waterford.{{Cite web |last=Brennan |first=Marjorie |date=October 24, 2022 |title=Book interview: Megan Nolan on discovering one of Waterford's best-known authors |url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/artsandculture/arid-40990469.html |website=IrishExaminer.com}}{{Cite web |last=Clark |first=Alex |date=February 26, 2021 |title=Megan Nolan: 'When I think back, the way I drank was crazy. Everyone I knew did it' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/feb/26/megan-nolan-when-i-think-back-the-way-i-drank-was-crazy-everyone-i-knew-did-it |website=TheGuardian.com}} She studied film studies and French at Trinity College Dublin, but dropped out before completion of her studies.{{Cite web |last=McGrath |first=Maedhbh |date=July 8, 2023 |title=Megan Nolan: 'In England, you're supposed to hate someone who has a tiny bit more than you' |url=https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/megan-nolan-in-england-youre-supposed-to-hate-someone-who-has-a-tiny-bit-more-than-you/a301364983.html |website=Independent.ie}}
She has written essays and literary criticism for the New Statesman. In 2018, she wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times that detailed how she had come to hate England and English people.{{Cite web |last=Nolan |first=Megan |date=October 18, 2018 |title=I Didn't Hate the English — Until Now |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/opinion/england-ireland-border-brexit.html |access-date=2024-02-07 |website=nytimes.com |language=en-GB}} She subsequently moved from London to New York City.
Acts of Desperation was a Betty Trask Awardee for debut novels in 2022.[https://www2.societyofauthors.org/prizes/the-soa-awards/betty-trask-prize-awards/ "The Betty Trask Prize | Past Winners"], The Society of Authors. Retrieved 19 June 2024. Ordinary Human Failings was shortlisted for the 2023 Gordon Burn Prize for "books that push boundaries, cross genres or otherwise challenge readers’ expectations",{{Cite journal |title=Gordon Burn prize announces 'blazing' shortlist |journal=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/jan/25/gordon-burn-prize-announces-electric-shortlist |last=Creamer |first=Ella |date=2024-01-25}}{{Cite news |last=Lane |first=Harriet |date=2024-02-04 |title=A Dead Child, Too Much Booze and a Family in Crisis |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/04/books/review/ordinary-human-failings-megan-nolan.html |access-date=2024-03-03 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} as well as for the 2024 Encore Award, given by the Royal Society of Literature to celebrate the "difficult second novel" that follows an author's literary debut.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/novels-by-isabella-hammad-and-ayobami-adebayo-vying-for-the-10k-encore-award|title=Novels by Isabella Hammad and Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ vying for the 10k Encore Award|magazine=The Bookseller|first=Melina|last=Spanoudi|date=30 May 2024|access-date=19 June 2024}}
Awards
| class="wikitable"
|+ !Year !Work ! colspan="2" |Award !Result !Ref |
| 2021
| rowspan="3" |Acts of Desperation |Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award |— |{{Sho}} |
|---|
| rowspan="2" |2022
| |— |{{Won}} |
| Dylan Thomas Prize
|— |{{Nom|Longlisted}} |
| rowspan="2" |2023
| rowspan="3" |Ordinary Human Failings | |{{Sho}} |
| Nero Book Award
|Fiction |{{Sho}} |
| 2024
|Orwell Prize for Political Fiction | |{{Sho}} |
Bibliography
- {{Cite book |last=Nolan |first=Megan |title=Acts of Desperation |publisher=Random House |year=2021 |isbn=9780316429856 |edition=1st hardcover |page=288 |ref=none |author-mask=2 |author-link=Megan Nolan}}
- {{Cite book |last=Nolan |first=Megan |title=Ordinary Human Failings |publisher=Jonathan Cape |year=2023 |isbn=9781787332508 |edition=1st hardcover |ref=none |author-mask=2 |author-link=Megan Nolan}}
- {{Cite book |last1=Nolan |first1=Megan |url=https://villagebooks.co/products/sheep-print |title=Windswept Baby |last2=Pettifer |first2=Amy |last3=Chingonyi |first3=Kayo |last4=Turner |first4=Luke |last5=Biddle |first5=Lucy |last6=Underwood |first6=Jack |publisher=Bethan Lloyd Worthington |year=2018 |isbn=9781789260342 |editor-last=Lloyd Worthington |editor-first=Bethan |ref=none |author-mask=2 |author-link=Megan Nolan |author-link3=Kayo Chingonyi |author-link4=Luke Turner (artist)}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{official website}}
- Anthony Cummins, [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/jan/06/megan-nolan-people-say-you-shouldnt-do-an-issues-novel-gordon-burn-prize-nero-fiction-award "Interview | Megan Nolan: 'People say you shouldn’t do an issues novel{{'"}}], The Guardian, 6 January 2024.
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nolan, Megan}}
Category:Date of birth missing (living people)
Category:21st-century Irish women writers
Category:Writers from Waterford (city)
Category:21st-century Irish journalists
Category:Irish women novelists
Category:Anti-English sentiment in Ireland
Category:Anti-English sentiment in Europe
Category:Anti-British sentiment
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