Roddy Doyle

Roderick ‘Roddy’ Doyle was born on 8 May 1958 in Dublin, Ireland and raised in the north Dublin suburb of Kilbarrack. He attended St. Fintan’s High School and later studied English and Geography at University College Dublin, becoming a teacher in Greendale Community School. During the summer break in his third year at Greendale, Doyle began writing seriously and published his first novel, The Commitments, in 1987, to warm reception, which was later adapted for film in 1991 – winning him a BAFTA for best adapted screenplay –  and for musical theatre in 2013. His following two novels, The Snapper (1990) and The Van (1991) rounded out the original Barrytown Trilogy – following the lives of the Rabbitte family in the fictional north Dublin suburb of Barrytown – and were both also adapted into successful films, with The Snapper also winning the 2011 Prix Littéraire des Jeunes Européens. 

In 1993, Doyle won the Booker Prize for Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha (1993), a spin-off to the Barrytown Trilogy that detailed the world according to a 10 year old boy living in 1968 Dublin. The following year, Doyle wrote a miniseries entitled Family for the BBC, which generated considerable controversy in Ireland upon its release – including Dáil debates, church sermons and death threats – owing to its depiction of taboos such as alcoholism, adultery, criminality and domestic violence. Not to be deterred, he adapted the story into a novel, The Woman Who Walked Into Doors (1996), which was later followed by two sequels, Paula Spencer (2006) and The Women Behind The Door (2024). 

Doyle’s most recent trilogy of adult novels, ‘The Last Roundup’ series (1999-2010) follows the life and adventures of Henry Smart, an IRA volunteer during the Easter Rising, his journey through the United States and his return to Ireland. Following the third novel in The Last Roundup, Doyle’s next adult novel was his long-awaited return to the Barrytown series, with The Guts (2013) — winner of the Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year — serving as an epilogue set thirty years after the events of the original trilogy. 

In 2009, Doyle co-founded “Fighting Words”, a creative writing centre aimed at providing free programmes and mentoring to children and young adults. In addition to his adult novels, Doyle has written numerous children’s books, short stories, plays, screenplays – consisting of both adaptations and original works – and two non-fiction memoirs. Now considered a household name in Ireland and abroad, Doyle was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2003, won the Irish PEN Award for Literature in 2009, and an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Dundee in 2015.