Sebastian Barry was born on 5 July 1955 in Dublin and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. His academic posts include Honorary Fellow in Writing at the University of Iowa (1984) and Writer Fellow at Trinity College, Dublin (1995-6). His early plays include Boss Grady's Boys (1990), which opened in 1988, and won the BBC/Stewart Parker Award.
His play The Steward of Christendom (1995), was first staged at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in March 1995, an 'Out-of-Joint' Production with Donal McCann in the title role, subsequently transferred to Broadway. It won the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize, the Ireland/America Literary Prize, the Critics' Circle Award for Best New Play and the Writers' Guild Award (Best Fringe Play).
Sebastian Barry also won the Lloyds Private Banking Playwright of the Year award in the same year. Our Lady of Sligo (1998) was joint winner of the Peggy Ramsay Play Award, and was seen off-Broadway, and Hinterland, premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, and the Royal National Theatre, London in 2002. His latest plays are Whistling Psyche (2004), and The Pride of Parnell Street (2007), two interweaving monologues.
Barry has also written poetry, including the collections The Water-Colourist (1983) and Fanny Hawke Goes to the Mainland Forever (1989); a novel for children, Elsewhere: the Adventures of Belemus (1985); and short novels, Time Out of Mind/Strappado Square (1983). His novels include The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty (1998); translated into seven languages; Annie Dunne (2002), set in Wicklow in the 1950s; and A Long Long Way (2005), shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Man Booker Prize for Fiction.
Sebastian Barry lives in County Wicklow, Ireland. His latest novel is The Secret Scripture (2006), shortlisted for the 2008 Man Booker Prize for Fiction and winner of the 2008 Costa Book of the Year Award.
Macker's Garden Irish Writer's Co-operative, 1982
The Water-Colourist Dolmen Press, 1983
Time Out of Mind/Strappado Square Wolfhound Press, 1983
Elsewhere: The Adventures of Belemus Brogeen Books, 1985
The Rhetorical Town Dolmen Press, 1985
The Inherited Boundaries: Younger Poets of the Republic of Ireland (editor) Dolmen Press, 1986
The Engine of Owl-Light Carcanet, 1987
Fanny Hawke Goes to the Mainland Forever Raven Arts Press, 1989
Prayers of Sherkin/Boss Grady's Boys: Two Plays Methuen, 1990
The Only True History of Lizzie Finn/The Steward of Christendom/ White Woman Street: Three Plays Methuen, 1995
The Steward of Christendom Methuen, 1995
Plays 1: Boss Grady's Boys/Prayers of Sherkin/White Woman Street/The Only True History of Lizzie Finn/The Steward of Christendom Methuen, 1997
Our Lady of Sligo Methuen, 1998
The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty Picador, 1998
Annie Dunne Faber and Faber, 2002
Hinterland Faber and Faber, 2002
The Pinkening Boy: New Poems New Island Books, 2004
Whistling Psyche/Fred and Jane Faber and Faber, 2004
A Long Long Way Faber and Faber, 2005
The Secret Scripture Faber and Faber, 2006
The Pride of Parnell Street Faber and Faber, 2007
1988 BBC/Stewart Parker Award Boss Grady's Boys
1995 Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize The Steward of Christendom
1995 Critics' Circle Award for Best New Play The Steward of Christendom
1995 Ireland/America Literary Prize The Steward of Christendom
1995 Lloyds Private Banking Playwright of the Year Award
1995 Writers' Guild Award (Best Fringe Play) The Steward of Christendom
1997 Peggy Ramsay Award (joint winner) Our Lady of Sligo
2005 Man Booker Prize for Fiction (shortlist) A Long Long Way
2007 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (shortlist) A Long Long Way
2008 Costa Book of the Year Award The Secret Scripture
2008 Man Booker Prize for Fiction (shortlist) The Secret Scripture
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