- Nuala O'Faolain
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Nuala O'Faolain (pronounced Nula O-Fway-lawn) (1 March 1940[1] – 9 May 2008) was an Irish journalist, TV producer, book reviewer, teacher and author. She became internationally well-known for her two volumes of memoir, Are You Somebody? and Almost There; a novel, My Dream of You; and a history with commentary, The Story of Chicago May. The first three were all featured on the New York Times Best Seller list. Her posthumous novel Best Love, Rosie was published in 2009.Contents
Personal life
O'Faolain was born in Dublin, the second eldest of nine children. Her father was a well-known Irish journalist, writing the "Dubliners Diary" social column under the pen name Terry O'Sullivan for the Dublin Evening Press. She was educated at University College Dublin, the University of Hull, and Oxford University.[2] She taught for a time at Morley College, and worked as a television producer for the BBC and Radio Telefís Éireann.
O'Faolain described her early life as growing up in a Catholic country which in her view feared sexuality and forbade her even information about her body.[3]. In her writings she often discusses her frustration at the sexism and rigidity of roles in Catholic Ireland that expected her to marry and have children, of which she did neither.
O'Faolain was engaged at least once,[4] but she never married. In Are You Somebody?, she speaks candidly about her fifteen-year relationship with the journalist Nell McCafferty, who published her own memoir, Nell.[5] From 2002 until her death, O'Faolain lived much of the time with Brooklyn-based attorney John Low-Beer and his daughter Anna. They were registered as domestic partners in 2003.
O'Faolain split her time between Ireland and New York City.[6] She had been diagnosed with metastatic cancer and was interviewed on the Marian Finucane radio show on RTE Radio One on 12 April 2008 in relation to her terminal illness. [7] She told Finucane, "I don’t want more time. As soon as I heard I was going to die, the goodness went from life".[8]
On 9 May 2008 it was announced that O'Faolain had died during the night.[9]
Awards
- 1985: Jacob's Award as producer of RTÉ television programme Plain Tales[10]
- Journalist of the year
- 2006: Prix Femina, The Story of Chicago May[11]
Books
- Best Love, Rosie, New Island Books, 2009. ISBN 978-1848400450.
- The Story of Chicago May, Riverhead Books, 2005. ISBN 1-57322-320-4.
- Almost There: The Onward Journey of a Dublin Woman, Riverhead Books, 2003. ISBN 1-57322-374-3.
- My Dream of You, Riverhead Books, 2001. ISBN 1-57322-177-5.
- Are You Somebody? The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996. ISBN 0-8050-5663-7.
Further reading
- Brady, Deirdre. (2005). Thank you for the days. Dublin: TownHouse.
References
- ^ "Nuala O'Faolain" (obituary). Telegraph, 11 May 2008. Retrieved on 12 August 2009.
- ^ "Are You Somebody". Editorial Review (Amazon). Retrieved on 14 April 2008.
- ^ "Are You Somebody?" Nuala O'Faolain, New Island 1996, Introduction ix
- ^ "Nuala O'Faolain". Penguin. Retrieved on 14 April 2008.
- ^ Nolan, Yvonne. "The Girl of Her Dreams". Publishers Weekly, December 03, 2001. Retrieved on 14 April 2008.
- ^ "Nuala O'Faolain". BookBrowse.com, 15 February 2001. Retrieved on 14 April 2008.
- ^ "Pod-cast of radio interview of O'Faolain by Marian Finucane". RTÉ. 12 April 2008. http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2008/pc/pod-v-120408-40m53s-marianfinucane.mp3.
- ^ "Nuala O' Faolain interview". Sunday Independent, 13 April 2008. Retrieved on 14 April 2008.
- ^ "Nuala O'Faolain dies at 68". RTÉ News. 9 May 2008. http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0510/ofaolainn.html.
- ^ Caldwell, June (14 May 2008). "'She gave a voice to Irish women'". The Guardian (Guardian.co.uk). http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/may/14/women.books. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
- ^ "2006 Prix Femina winners announced". literaryawards.vertebratesilence.com, 31 October 2006. Retrieved on 14 April 2008.
External links
- Author Profile: Nuala O'Faolain, Bookreporter.com.
- NPR interview with Nuala O'Faolain, 14 March 2001.
- CBC radio interview: Nuala O'Faolain, 2003.
- [http://www.eigsemichaelhartnett.ie/michael-hartnett-memorial-lectures.html Recording of 'The times that were in it' 2007 Michael Hartnett Memorial lecture by Nuala O'Faolain.
Categories:- 1940 births
- 2008 deaths
- Irish novelists
- Bisexual writers
- People from County Dublin
- LGBT people from Ireland
- Irish women writers
- Women novelists
- Jacob's Award winners
- Cancer deaths in the Republic of Ireland
- Prix Femina Étranger winners
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