Roddy Doyle is an Irish novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

ist, dramatist and screenwriter

Screenwriter

Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...

. Several of his books have been made into successful films, beginning with The Commitments

The Commitments

The Commitments is a novel by Irish writer Roddy Doyle, and is the first episode in The Barrytown Trilogy. It is a tale about a group of unemployed young people in the north side of Dublin, Ireland, who start a soul band.-Plot summary:...

in 1991

1991 in film

The year 1991 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*April 28 - Bonnie Raitt marries actor Michael O'Keefe in New York* Terminator 2: Judgment Day, became one of the landmarks for science fiction action films with its groundbreaking visual effects from Industrial Light & Magic.*November...

. He won the Booker Prize in 1993.

Doyle grew up in Kilbarrack

Kilbarrack

Kilbarrack is a residential suburb of Dublin, Ireland, running inwards from the coast, about from the city's centre. Modern-day Kilbarrack is within the jurisdiction of Dublin City Council, with part of its old lands now in Donaghmede, and part in Bayside under Fingal County Council...

, Dublin. His mother, Ita Bolger Doyle, was first cousin of the short story writer Maeve Brennan

Maeve Brennan

Maeve Brennan , was an Irish short story writer and journalist. She moved to the United States in 1934 when her father was appointed to the Irish Legation in Washington. She was an important figure in both Irish diaspora writing and in Irish writing itself...

. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from University College Dublin

University College Dublin

University College Dublin ) - formally known as University College Dublin - National University of Ireland, Dublin is the Republic of Ireland's largest, and Ireland's second largest, university, with over 1,300 faculty and 17,000 students...

. He spent several years as an English and geography teacher before becoming a full-time writer in 1993.

He established a creative writing centre, "Fighting Words", which opened in Dublin in January 2009. It was inspired by a visit to his friend Dave Eggers' 826 Valencia project in San Francisco.

Personal life

He is an atheist

Atheism

Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...

. He signed a petition supporting journalist Suzanne Breen

Suzanne Breen

Suzanne Breen is the Northern Ireland editor for the Sunday Tribune newspaper. She has also written for Village magazine about Northern Ireland....

, who faced jail for refusing to divulge her sources in court. He joined thousands of angry people from Clontarf to protest against an attempt by Dublin City Council

Dublin City Council

Dublin City Council is the local authority for the city of Dublin in Ireland. It has 52 members and is the largest local authority in Ireland. Until 2001, it was known as Dublin Corporation.-Legal status:...

 to construct 9ft-high barriers which would interfere with one of his favourite views.

Novels

• The Barrytown Trilogy
  The Barrytown Trilogy
  The Barrytown Trilogy consists of the first three novels by Irish writer Roddy Doyle and is first published as a trilogy in 1992. All of the three novels have been adapted into successful movies....
  
  :
  • The Commitments
    The Commitments
    The Commitments is a novel by Irish writer Roddy Doyle, and is the first episode in The Barrytown Trilogy. It is a tale about a group of unemployed young people in the north side of Dublin, Ireland, who start a soul band.-Plot summary:...
    
    (1987, 1991 film
    The Commitments (film)
    The Commitments , the soundtrack for the film, was released on 13 Aug 1991. "Mustang Sally" was released as a single. Most of the songs on the album are performed by the cast band, but two are by Irish singer Niamh Kavanagh.-Track listing:-Chart positions:-The Commitments, Vol...
    
    ) — A group of Dublin teenagers, led by Jimmy Rabbitte Jr., decide to form a soul band in the tradition of Wilson Pickett
    Wilson Pickett
    Wilson Pickett was an American R&B/Soul singer and songwriter.A major figure in the development of American soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, and frequently crossed over to the US Billboard Hot 100...
    
    .
  • The Snapper (1990, 1993 film
    The Snapper (film)
    The Snapper is a 1993 Irish television film which was directed by Stephen Frears and starred Tina Kellegher, Colm Meaney and Brendan Gleeson. The film is based on the novel by Irish writer Roddy Doyle, about the Rabbitte family and their domestic adventures.- Plot :Young Sharon Curley becomes...
    
    ) — Jimmy's sister, Sharon, becomes pregnant. She is determined to have the child but refuses to reveal the father's identity to her family.
  • The Van
    The Van (novel)
    The Van is a 1991 novel by Irish writer Roddy Doyle and the third novel in The Barrytown Trilogy, continuing the story from The Snapper . It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize . -Premise:...
    
    (1991, shortlisted for the 1991 Booker Prize; 1996 film
    The Van (1996 film)
    The Van is a 1996 film, based on the novel by Roddy Doyle. Like The Snapper, it was directed by Stephen Frears. It was entered into the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.- Plot :...
    
    ) — Jimmy Sr. is laid off, as is his friend Bimbo. Bimbo buys a used fish and chips van and the two go into business for themselves.
• Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
  Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
  Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha is a novel by Irish writer Roddy Doyle. It won the Booker Prize in 1993. The story is about a 10 year old boy and events that happen within his age group...
  
  (1993, winner of the 1993 Booker Prize) — The world as described, understood and misunderstood by a ten-year-old Dubliner.
• Paula Spencer novels:
  • The Woman Who Walked into Doors
    The Woman Who Walked Into Doors
    The Woman Who Walked Into Doors is a novel by Irish writer Roddy Doyle, adapted from the 1994 RTÉ/BBC miniseries Family.-Plot summary:The novel tells the struggle and survival of an abused wife named Paula Spencer. It is narrated by the victim...
    
    (1996) — A story of a battered wife, narrated by the victim; despite her husband's increasingly violent behaviour, she defends him, using the classic excuse "I walked into a door" to explain her bruises.
  • Paula Spencer
    Paula Spencer (novel)
    Paula Spencer is a novel by Irish writer Roddy Doyle.-Plot summary:The novel is a sequel to Doyle's 1996 book The Woman Who Walked Into Doors, describing the life of alcoholic and battered wife Paula Spencer. The second book picks up her life ten years after the death of her husband....
    
    (2006) — Ten years after The Woman Who Walked into Doors, its protagonist returns.
• The Last Roundup
  The Last Roundup
  The Last Roundup is a series of three novels by Irish writer Roddy Doyle. They follow the life of Henry Smart from Ireland to America spanning most of the 20th century. The series is narrated by Henry as well, providing us the "Omniscient Narrator."...
  
  :
  • A Star Called Henry
    A Star Called Henry
    A Star Called Henry is a novel by Irish writer Roddy Doyle. It is Vol. 1 of The Last Roundup series. The second installment of the series, Oh, Play That Thing, was published in 2004.-Plot summary:...
    
    (1999) — The story of Henry Smart, an IRA assassin and 1916 Easter Rebellion fighter, from his birth in Dublin to his adulthood when he becomes a father.
  • Oh, Play That Thing!
    Oh, Play That Thing!
    Oh, Play That Thing is a novel by Irish writer Roddy Doyle. It is Vol. 2 of The Last Roundup series, and follows on from Vol. 1, A Star Called Henry.-Plot summary:...
    
    (2004) — Henry Smart's adventures in 1924 America, specifically the Lower East Side of New York City
    New York City
    New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
    
    , where he catches the attention of local mobsters by hiring kids to carry his sandwich boards. He also goes to Chicago where he becomes a business partner with Louis Armstrong. The title is taken from a phrase that is shouted in one of Louis Armstrong's songs, "Dippermouth Blues".
  • The Dead Republic
    The Dead Republic
    The Dead Republic: A Novel is a 2010 novel by Irish author Roddy Doyle which concluded The Last Roundup trilogy. The first book in the trilogy was A Star Called Henry , and the second was Oh, Play That Thing! .-Plot:...
    
    (2010) — Henry Smart collaborates on writing the script for a Hollywood film. He returns to Ireland and is offered work as the caretaker in a school, then circumstances lead to him re-establishing his link with the IRA.

Uncollected short stories

• "Recuperation" — The New Yorker
  The New Yorker
  The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
  
  , 15 December 2003.
• "The Slave" — Middle-aged man reads Cold Mountain
  Cold Mountain (novel)
  Cold Mountain is a 1997 historical fiction novel by Charles Frazier. It tells the story of W. P. Inman, a wounded deserter from the Confederate army near the end of the American Civil War who walks for months to return to Ada Monroe, the love of his life; the story shares several similarities with...
  
  and obsesses over a dead rat.
• "Teaching" — Reflections of a spent, alcoholic teacher. The New Yorker
  The New Yorker
  The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
  
  , 2 April 2007.
• "The Dog" — A man ponders the gradual erosion of his marriage. New Yorker, 5 November 2007.
• "Bullfighting" — Four middle-aged friends from Ireland take a week's vacation in Spain and reflect on life. New Yorker, 28 April 2008 http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2008/04/28/080428fi_fiction_doyle
• "The Child" — An insomniac is constantly plagued by intrusive visions of a boy. McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories, 2004.
• "Sleep" — A man admires his wife while she is sleeping, reflecting also on his life with her. The New Yorker, 20 October 2008, The Sunday Times
  The Sunday Times
  The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
  
  , 15 February 2009 ( online text)
• "The Bandstand" - A homeless Polish immigrant in Dublin comes to terms with money and his family. "San Francisco Panorama," 8 December 2009. Also, it was a work in progress published in monthly installments in Dublin immigrant magazine Metro Eireann, and recently
• "Ash" - "The New Yorker", 24 May 2010 ( online text)
• "Brilliant" - March 2011

Theatre

• Brownbread (1987)
• War (1989)
• The Woman Who Walked into Doors (2003)
• Rewrite of The Playboy of the Western World
  The Playboy of the Western World
  The Playboy of the Western World is a three-act play written by Irish playwright John Millington Synge and first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on January 26, 1907. It is set in Michael James Flaherty's public house in County Mayo during the early 1900s...
  
  (2007) with Bisi Adigun

Television screenplay

• Family
  Family (1994)
  Family is a television drama series that aired on RTÉ One and BBC One in 1994. It was written by Roddy Doyle, the author of The Commitments, and directed by Michael Winterbottom.-Premise:...
  
  (1994) — BBC
  BBC
  The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
  
  /RTÉ
  RTE
  RTÉ is the abbreviation for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland.RTE may also refer to:* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey...
  
   serial
  Serial (literature)
  In literature, a serial is a publishing format by which a single large work, most often a work of narrative fiction, is presented in contiguous installments—also known as numbers, parts, or fascicles—either issued as separate publications or appearing in sequential issues of a single periodical...
  
   which was the forerunner of the 1996 novel The Woman Who Walked Into Doors.

Screenplays

• When Brendan Met Trudy
  When Brendan Met Trudy
  When Brendan Met Trudy is a 2001 motion picture directed by Kieron J. Walsh which tells a story of a teacher who falls in love with a mysterious young woman. Set in Dublin, it is Walsh's first feature film, written by Roddy Doyle.-Plot:...
  
  (2000) — A romance about a timid schoolteacher (Brendan) and a spunky thief (Trudy).
• New Boy (2008) — Academy Award-nominated short film directed by Steph Green, based on a Doyle short story of same name.

Children's books

• Not Just for Christmas (1999)
• The Giggler Treatment (2000)
• Rover Saves Christmas (2001)
• The Meanwhile Adventures (2004)
• Wilderness (2007)
• Her Mother's Face (2008)

Research work about the author

• An Indecency Decently Put: Roddy Doyle and Contemporary Irish Fiction, by Niall McArdle (M.A. thesis, 1994, University College, Dublin)
• La réécriture de l'histoire dans les Romans de Roddy Doyle, Dermot Bolger
  Dermot Bolger
  Dermot Bolger is an Irish novelist, playwright and poet born in Finglas, a suburb of Dublin.His work is often concerned with the articulation of the experiences of working-class characters who, for various reasons, feel alienated from society. Bolger questions the relevance of traditional...
  
   et Patrick McCabe
  Patrick McCabe
  Patrick McCabe is an Irish novelist, known for his mostly dark and violent novels set in contemporary, often small-town, Ireland. His books include The Butcher Boy and Breakfast on Pluto , both shortlisted for the Booker Prize...
  
  by Alain Mouchel-Vallon (PhD thesis, 2005, Reims University, France). http://www.sudoc.abes.fr

Further reading

• Allen Randolph, Jody. "Roddy Doyle, August 2009." Close to the Next Moment: Interviews from a Changing Ireland. Manchester: Carcanet, 2010.
• Boland, Eavan. "Roddy Doyle." Irish Writers on Writing. San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 2007.
• McCarthy, Dermot. Roddy Doyle: Raining on the Parade. Dublin: Liffey Press, 2003.
• Reynolds, Margaret and Jonathan Noakes. Roddy Doyle: The Essential Guide. London: Random House, 2004.
• White, Caramine. Reading Roddy Doyle. Syracuse: Syracuse UP, 2001.

External links

• Archive of Doyle's short fiction for The New Yorker. Stories available without a subscription include:

"Ash" (24 May 2010)

"Sleep" (20 Oct 2008)

"Bullfighting" (28 Apr 2008)

"The Dog" (5 Nov 2007)

"Teaching" (2 Apr 2007)

"The Photograph" (16 Oct 2006)

"The Joke" (29 Nov 2004)

"Recuperation" (15 Dec 2003)

• Author page at Irish Writers Online
• Roddy Doyle: Author Biography Postcolonial Studies At Emory.
• Roddy Doyle's rules for writers
• Roddy Doyle's verdict on James Joyce's Ulysses
• The Salon Interview: Roddy Doyle
• Roddy Doyle At Fantastic Fiction
• Reviews of Paula Spencer (2006)
• Writing Centre: Roddy Doyle (2009)