Authors [ S ]
Born in Cork, Ireland, Gaye Shortland has taught English literature at University College Cork, the University of Leeds, Ahmadu Bello University Nigeria and the Universite de Niamey in Niger. She lived for fifteen years in Africa, spending much of that time with the nomadic Taureg of the Sahara and eventually managing a restaurant for the American Embassy in Niamey. She married a Taureg and had three children.
She began to write in 1994 on her return to Ireland, and now lives in Cork with her children. She is now editor at Poolbeg Press and the author of four critically acclaimed novels.
Turtles All the Way Down and Mind That ‘tis My Brother are comedies set in Cork.
Polygamy and Harmattan are set in Africa.
Books
Rough Rides in Dry Places
Sex rears its alluring head in Africa and a bunch of willing takers make a bid for what’s on offer.
Ned dreams of settling down with a nubile local lass. Fate instead presents Fati, of uncertain age and outsize mammary glands…
Jan isn’t quite ready to take on the younger brother of her ex-lover – but a Taureg teenager with rampant hormones is hard to keep down…
Simon , already living with a luscious Nigerian, longs for a family…unfortunately, being the wrong sex for successful impregnation, no amount of cross-dressing is likely to do the trick.
Their dream mates take flight and head for the Sahara . They pursue.
All in all it’s a rough ride.
PRAISE FOR GAYE SHORTLAND’S PREVIOUS BOOKS
Turtles All the Way Down ‘You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’re unlikely to recommend it to your granny.’ Irish Examiner.
Mind That ‘tis My Brother ‘The madness of obsession and the undying lust of the spirit are portrayed in scenes that are bound to offend. I loved it.’ The Irish Times.
Polygamy ‘A love affair that rivals, even surpasses, that of The English Patient in its intensity – one woman’s breathtaking, gut-wrenching involvement, not just with one man, but with a whole race.’ IT (Irish Tatler).
Harmattan ‘The rhythm of her words conjures up a story that is both magical and convincing.’ Evening Herald.
