Novella by Kilkenny writer in the running for Booker Prize

A Kilkenny writer and member of Aosdána has recently published a novella that has been submitted for consideration for the Booker Prize.

It resonates with a wide array of readers including anyone navigating change at whatever stage: from youth to adulthood to the mid-life crisis to older age such as searching for connectedness, openly embracing identity or closeting true identity. 

Sexual fluidity is explored through questions about true beauty and true love, and answered: Love is Love and Beauty is Beauty, whatever the gender.  It is particularly a literary entertainment exploring identity, desire and belonging and the awkwardness of finding one’s place. 

At the heart of this dark comedy is a woman who drives the narrative’s transformation, showing that “love is more beautiful than beauty”. The characters' risqué and often scandalous actions eventually uncover a deep, underlying desire for a sense of belonging — a return to the Ulyssean Ithaca, the mythical home that serves as the novel's final word.  O

O'Driscoll has published ten books of poetry, including Gog and Magog (1987), Moving On, Still There (2001), and Surreal Man (2006). His work has been translated into many languages. His fourth collection, The Old Women of Magione, was translated into Italian in 2006. A Selected Poems in Slovene translation was published in 2013. His work has also featured Irish issues of various European literary journals. His most recent full collection, Angel Hour, was published by SurVision Books in 2021.