Sonya Kelly is an Irish playwright and screenwriter. Kelly was born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. Some of her family had a theatre background: her uncle Frank Kelly was a well-known actor, and an aunt who taught speech and drama sent her plays by

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

as a teenager. She studied drama and classics at

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

. After graduation she got a few acting roles in Dublin's

Gate Theatre The Gate Theatre is a theatre on Cavendish Row in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1928. History Beginnings The Gate Theatre was founded in 1928 by Hilton Edwards and Micheál MacLiammóir with Daisy Bannard Cogley and Gearóid Ó Lochla ...

before spending some time as a stand-up comedian. She then progressed to what she has described as "a medium somewhere between theatre and comedy", doing self-performing autobiographical pieces. "The Wheelchair on my Face" was the first of these followed by "How to Keep an Alien". Her first play for other actors was "Furniture". Productions of Kelly's plays "The Wheelchair on My Face" and "The Last Return" have won

Scotsman Fringe First The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

awards. She lives in Dublin with her Australian wife Kate. They met while they were both working on a play at the

Project Arts Centre Project Arts Centre is a multidisciplinary arts centre based in Temple Bar, Dublin, which hosts visual arts, theatre, dance, music, and performance. History Project Arts Centre was founded by Jim FitzGerald and Colm O'Briain in 1967 after a th ...

, Dublin. Their daughter Juno was born in 2021. Kelly was a 2024 recipient of the Windham Campbell Prize for Drama.

Playography

*''The Wheelchair on My Face'' * '' How to Keep an Alien'' * ''Furniture'' * ''Once Upon a Bridge'' * ''The Last Return''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Sonya Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Irish dramatists and playwrights Irish women dramatists and playwrights