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06 Sept 2025
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06 Sept 2025
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The Wellcome Book Prize tweeted this image tonight announcing Kilkenny author Mark O' Connell had won the prestigious award
A Kilkenny man has won a prestigious £30,000 prize for his debut book exploring transhumanism, the transformation of the human condition and mortality through science and technology.
Mark O' Connell (38), a past pupil of Kilkenny College, was announced as the winner of the 2018 Wellcome Book Prize at an awards ceremony in London this evening. His book is titled: 'To Be a Machine: Adventures among cyborgs, utopians, hackers and the futurists solving the modest problem of death'.
The winner of the Wellcome Book Prize 2018 is... To Be a Machine! Many congratulations @mrkocnnll and @GrantaBooks. #WBP2018 https://t.co/70eNTDGxMv pic.twitter.com/32MoDyzrMg
— Wellcome Book Prize (@wellcomebkprize) April 30, 2018
An Irish Times review of the book described it as 'brilliant… A terrifying, fascinating and often funny insight into a brave new world'. Mark's alma mater congratulated the past pupil (Class of 1997) on Twitter this evening.
Congrats to past pupil Mark O'Connell on winning The Wellcome Book Prize.@mrkocnnllhttps://t.co/xgZJXzr9SH
— Kilkenny College (@kilkennycollege) April 30, 2018
Read more here in The Irish Times and The Guardian newspapers.https://t.co/lm1bwH7GRahttps://t.co/4tthcIH4Wf
Mark, who now lives in Dublin, is the second Irish author to have won the prize after Suzanne O' Sullivan in 2016.
Many congratulations to @mrkocnnll on winning the 2018 @wellcomebkprize with TO BE A MACHINE. #WBP2018 @GrantaBooks pic.twitter.com/kyahpx9KeR
— John Fish (@Thelastword1962) April 30, 2018
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