Authors [ K ]
Marian Keyes,
Number 1 bestselling author of Watermelon, Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, Rachel's Holiday, Last Chance Saloon, Sushi for Beginners, Angels, The Other Side of the Story and Anybody Out There?
Marian Keyes is a publishing phenomenon!
Although she didn’t start writing until eleven years ago, she is now one of the most successful Irish novelists of all time. She describes herself as “an accidental novelist”. Though she was brought up in a home where a lot of oral story-telling went on, it never occurred to her that she could write. Instead she studied law and accountancy and finally started writing short stories in 1993 “out of the blue”. Though she had no intention of ever writing a novel (“It would take too long”) she sent her short stories to Poolbeg, with a letter saying she’d started work on a novel. Poolbeg replied, asking to see the novel, and once her panic had subsided, she began to write what subsequently became her first book Watermelon.
It was published in Ireland in 1995, where it was an immediate, runaway success. Its chatty conversational style and whimsical Irish humour appealed to all age groups, and this appeal spread to Britain when Watermelon was picked as a Fresh Talent book. Other countries followed (most notably the US in 1997) and Marian is now published around the world in thirty different languages, the most exotic of which are Japanese and Hebrew.
To date, the woman who said she’d never write a novel has published eight of them: Watermelon, Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, Rachel's Holiday, Last Chance Saloon, Sushi for Beginners, Angels, The Other Side of the Story and most recently Anybody Out There?, all bestsellers around the world. Over ten million of her books have been sold to date. These books deal variously with modern ailments, including depression and serious illness, but always written with compassion, humour and hope.
Her work has come to the attention of Hollywood; Rachel’s Holiday was optioned by Touchstone Pictures and filming has recently been completed, with Catherine Zeta Jones playing the part of Rachel. Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married was made into a sixteen part television series, and Watermelon was made into a film for British and Irish television starring Anna Friel.
As well as novels, she writes short stories, monthly columns and one-offs for various magazines and other publications. She is also involved with various charities – she contributed to a multi-authored book, Yeats is Dead! where all the royalties were donated to Amnesty International and to Travelling Light, a collection of true-life travel stories, royalties going to the Kisiizi Hospital in Uganda. She published two collections of her journalism, Under the Duvet and Further Under the Duvet, and donated all royalties from Irish sales to the Simon Community, a charity that works with the homeless. Marian is also patron of the To Russia With Love organisation.
She was born in Limerick in 1963, and brought up in Cavan, Cork, Galway and Dublin; she spent her twenties in London, but is now living in Dún Laoghaire with her husband Tony. She includes among her hobbies, reading, movies, shoes, handbags and M&Ms.
More information is available at www.mariankeyes.com
Books
Anybody Out There
Dubliner Anna is the fourth of five Walsh sisters and seems to have it all - gorgeous husband Aidan, an apartment in Manhattan and The Best Job In The World. So it’s not surprising she doesn’t want to stay for long in her parents Good Front Room in Blackrock, where there’s nothing to do but watch the antics of her sister Helen who spends most of her time hiding in bushes with binoculars trying to catch errant spouses 'at it'. Anna doesn't wait too long before heading back to her life in New York - her ridiculous mandatory work wardrobe and gut-clenching Monday Morning Meetings, the city of eight-minute speed dating, the Labrodoodle and Feathery Strokers. Back in Manhattan, Aidan seems to have vanished. But Anna sees him everywhere, walking down the street and passing by in a bus, so why won't he return her calls or emails? Hold onto your handbags for the amazing new Marian Keyes.
