Biography
Education and teaching career
Born in Galway, he was educated at Gormanston College, County Meath and later atWriting career
Bruen is part of a literary circle that includes Jason Starr, Reed Farrel Coleman, and Allan Guthrie. His works include the well-received ''White Trilogy'' and ''The Guards''. In 2006, Hard Case Crime released ''Bust'', a collaboration between Bruen and New York crime author Jason Starr. Bruen's short story "Words Are Cheap" (2006) appears in the first issue of ''Murdaland''. He has also edited an anthology of stories set in Dublin, ''Dublin Noir''. Jack Taylor's informant, named China, is a nod of the head by Ken Bruen to author Alan Hunter's original informant character named China, in the George Gently series of novels, first published in 1955. Bruen is also the recipient of the first David Loeb Goodis Award (2008) for his dedication to his art. Other works of note include ''The Killing of the Tinkers'', ''The Magdalen Martyrs'', ''The Dramatist'' and ''Priest'', all part of his Jack Taylor series, which began with ''The Guards''. Set in Galway, the series relates the adventures and misadventures of a disgraced former police officer working as a haphazard private investigator whose life has been marred by alcoholism and drug abuse. It chronicles the social change in Ireland in Bruen's own lifetime, paying particular attention to the decline of the Catholic Church as a social and political power. Themes also explored include Ireland's economic prosperity from the mid-1990s onwards, although it is often portrayed as a force which has left Ireland as a materialistic and spiritually drained society which still harbours deep social inequality. This is the side of theLiterary awards
Bruen is the recipient of many awards: The Shamus Award in 2007 (''The Dramatist'') and 2004 (''The Guards''), both for Best P.I. Hardcover; The Macavity Award in 2005 (''The Killing of the Tinkers'') and 2010 (''Tower'', cowritten by Reed Farrel Coleman), both for Best Mystery Novel; The Barry Award in 2007 (''Priest'') for Best British Crime Novel; the Grand Prix de Literature Policiere in 2007 (Priest) for Best International Crime Novel. He was also a finalist for theBibliography
Non-series (including collections of stories)
* ''Funeral: Tales of Irish Morbidities'' (1991) * ''Shades of Grace'' (1993) * ''Martyrs'' (1994) * ''Sherry and Other Stories'' (1994) * ''All the Old Songs and Nothing to Love'' (1994) * ''The Time of Serena-May & Upon the Third Cross'' (1994) * ''Rilke on Black'' (1996) * ''The Hackman Blues'' (1997) * ''Her Last Call to Louis MacNeice'' (1998) * ''London Boulevard'' (2001) * ''Dispatching Baudelaire'' (2004) * ''American Skin'' (2006) * ''A Fifth of Bruen: Early Fiction of Ken Bruen'' (2006) (collection including ''Funeral: Tales of Irish Morbidities'' (1991); ''Shades of Grace'' (1993); ''Martyrs'' (1994); ''Sherry and Other Stories'' (1994); ''All the Old Songs and Nothing to Love'' (1994); and ''The Time of Serena-May & Upon the Third Cross'' (1994) * ''Once Were Cops'' (2008) * ''Killer Year'' (2008) * ''Merrick'' (2014) * ''Callous'' (2021)Jack Taylor
* ''The Guards'' (2001) – 2004 Shamus Award for Best Novel; Finalist 2004 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel; Finalist 2004 Macavity Award for Best Novel * ''The Killing of the Tinkers'' (2002) – 2005 Macavity Award for Best Novel; Finalist 2005 Anthony Award for Best Novel * ''The Magdalen Martyrs'' (2003) * ''The Dramatist'' (2004) – 2007 Shamus Award for Best Novel * ''Priest'' (2006) – 2007 Barry Award for Best British Novel; Finalist 2008 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel * ''Cross'' (2007) * ''Sanctuary'' (2008) * ''The Devil'' (2010) * ''Headstone'' (2011) * ''Purgatory'' (Aug 2013) * ''Green Hell'' (July 2015) * ''The Emerald Lie'' (September 2016) * ''The Ghosts of Galway'' (November 2017) * ''In the Galway Silence'' (November 2018) * ''Galway Girl (''November 2019) * ''A Galway Epiphany (''November 2020)Detective Sergeant Tom Brant and Chief Inspector James Roberts
* ''A White Arrest'' (1998) * ''Taming the Alien'' (1999) * ''The McDead'' (2000) * ''Blitz'' (2002), adapted for the 2011 British crime thriller film ''Max Fisher and Angela Petrakos
* ''Bust'' (2006) – Finalist 2007 Barry Award for Best Paperback * ''Slide'' (2007) – Finalist 2008 Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original * ''The Max'' (2008) * ''Pimp'' (2016)Adaptations
Beginning in 2010, nine of the Jack Taylor novels were made into a TV series starringReferences
Further reading
*Jeannerod, Dominique. "Representations of Crime and Punishment in French and Irish Crime Fiction." Masson, Antoine, O'Connor, Kevin (eds.) Representations of Justice, Bern, Peter Lang, (2007) 23–37 *Kincaid, Andrew. "Down These Mean Streets": The City and Critique in Contemporary Irish Noir Éire-Ireland – Volume 45:1&2, Earrach/Samhradh / Spring/Summer 2010, 39–55 *Murphy, Paula. "Murderous Mayhem": Ken Bruen and the New Ireland." ''CLUES: A Journal of Detection'' 24.2 (Winter 2006): 3–16 *Murphy, Paula. "Ken Bruen's American Skin and Postmodern Media Culture". ''Americana: The Journal of American Popular Culture'' 7.1 (Spring 2008) *Murphy, Paula. "Ken Bruen". ''Twenty-first Century Irish Writers'', Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 386. Michael R. Molino, (ed.). Gale, Farmington Hills (2020), 62-74.External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruen, Ken 1951 births People from Galway (city) Irish novelists Irish male novelists Irish mystery writers Irish crime fiction writers 20th-century Irish people 21st-century Irish people Shamus Award winners Barry Award winners Macavity Award winners Living people