Joseph O’Connor

Harman Writer-In-Residence, Fall 2009

photo by Gerry Sandford

Joseph O’Connor was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1963. He attended University College Dublin and Oxford University and has an MA in screenwriting from the University of Leeds. He is the author of six novels: Cowboys and Indians, Desperadoes, The Salesman, Inishowen, Star of the Sea, and Redemption Falls; four collections of non-fiction, and an award-winning stage play, Red Roses and Petrol. His novel Star of the Sea, an international bestseller, won the Prix Littéraire Zepter for European Novel of the Year, the Hennessy/Sunday Tribune Hall of Fame Award, Italy’s Premio Acerbi, France’s Prix Millepages, the Irish Post Award for Literature, a Nielsen-BookScan Golden Book Award, and an American Library Association Notable Book Citation. It was one of the New York Public Library’s 25 Memorable Books, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and was also named a book of the year by The Economist and Newsweek. It has been published in 32 languages.

In 2005 O’Connor received a fellowship from the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center. He has also written a travelogue, Sweet Liberty: Travels in Irish America, an account of visiting the 11 towns called “Dublin” in the United States.