Billy O'Callaghan (born 9 December 1974) is an Irish short fiction writer and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

. 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 and his widely translated novel ''My Coney Island Baby'', which was shortlisted for the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...

Encore Award The £15,000 Encore Award for the best second novel was first awarded in 1990. It is sponsored by Lucy Astor, presented by the Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King Ge ...

Early life

Billy O'Callaghan was born in

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in 1974, and grew up in

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village, where he still lives.

Literary career

His first collection of short stories, ''In Exile'', was published by

Mercier Press Mercier Press is a publisher based in Cork, Ireland. It is the longest established independent publishing house in Ireland. History The company was founded in 1944 by Seán Feehan and initially published religious books. In 1946 they publishe ...

in 2008. This was followed a year later by a second collection, ''In Too Deep'' (also published by Mercier Press). In 2013, his third collection, ''The Things We Lose, The Things We Leave Behind'', was published by New Island Books. His short stories have been published in literary journals around the world, and translated into several other languages. His work has been broadcast on

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's The Book On One, '' Sunday Miscellany'' and the Francis McManus Award series. In 2017,

Ploughshares ''Ploughshares'' is an American literary journal established in 1971 by DeWitt Henry and Peter O'Malley in The Plough and Stars, an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1989, ''Ploughshares'' has been based at Emerson College in Bost ...

published O'Callaghan's story ''A Death in the Family'' as a Ploughshares Solo. O'Callaghan's first novel, ''The Dead House'', was published in Ireland by Brandon, an imprint of

O'Brien Press The O'Brien Press is an independent Irish publishing house based in Dublin. Founded in 1974 by Michael O'Brien, the company has become best known for its focus on children's literature and adult non-fiction. History The O'Brien Press emerged f ...

, in 2017, and in North America by

Arcade Publishing Arcade Publishing is an Imprint (trade name), imprint of the American book publisher Skyhorse Publishing, Skyhorse. Founded in 1988 by Richard Seaver and his wife Jeannette, it was originally an independent company publishing trade fiction and no ...

in 2018. His novel, ''My Coney Island Baby'', was published in 2019, by

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a British publishing firm headquartered in London and founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard (1893–1968) set up the publishing house in ...

(UK) and

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(USA), as well as in French by

Éditions Grasset Éditions Grasset () is a French publishing house founded in 1907 by (1881–1955). Grasset publishes French and foreign literature, essays, novels and children's books, among others. Bernard Grasset sold ownership of the company to Hachette ...

as ''Les amants de Coney Island'', translated by Carine Chichereau, Dutch by Ambo Anthos as ''Mijn lief op Coney Island'', translated by Lette Vos, German by btb Verlag as ''Die Liebenden von Coney Island'', translated by Sibylle Schmidt Czech by Nakladatelství Paseka as ''Náš Coney Island'', translated by Petr Eliáš, Catalan by L'Altra Editorial as ''Els amants de Coney Island'', translated by Ferran Ràfols Gesa, Italian by Guanda Editore as ''My Coney Island Baby'', translated by Ada Arduini, Hungarian by Jelenkor as ''Szerelmem, Coney Island'', translated by Zoltán Pék and in Turkish by Othello Kitap as ''Coney Island Bebeğim'', translated by Serkan Toy. A new short story collection, ''The Boatman and Other Stories'', was published in January 2020 by

(UK) and

Harper Perennial Harper Perennial is a paperback imprint of the publishing house HarperCollins Publishers. Overview Harper Perennial has divisions located in New York, London, Toronto, and Sydney. The imprint is descended from the Perennial Library imprint foun ...

(USA). A new novel ''Life Sentences'' was published in 2021 by

(UK) and in Czech by Nakladatelství Paseka as ''Doživotí'', translated by Petr Eliáš, and in 2022 in the US by David R. Godine.

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

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Cities of Literature project; and "The Boatman" was a finalist for the 2016 Costa Short Story Award. In June 2020, ''My Coney Island Baby'' was shortlisted for the

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

{{DEFAULTSORT:OCallaghan, Billy 1974 births Living people 21st-century Irish novelists 21st-century Irish male writers Irish male short story writers Irish male novelists Irish radio writers 21st-century Irish travel writers Writers from Cork (city) Writers of books about writing fiction 21st-century Irish short story writers