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Catherine O'Flynn

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Catherine O'Flynn
Born1970 (age 53–54)
OccupationWriter
NationalityBritish
Notable awardsCosta Book Award for First Novel(2007)
SpousePeter Fletcher
Children2

Catherine O'Flynn(born 1970) is a British writer. She has published three novels for adults, and two for children as well as various articles and short stories. Her debut novel,What Was Lost,won the prestigiousfirst novelprize at theCosta Book Awardsin 2008.

Biography[edit]

Prior to the publication ofWhat Was Lostshe worked in a variety of jobs including deputy manager of a large record shop, post woman, web editor, teacher andmystery shopper.[1]After spending some time in and aroundBarcelona,she now lives and works inBirmingham,England.She is married to Peter Fletcher, and they have two daughters.

Her firstnovel,What Was Lost,was published in January 2007. This novel received critical acclaim as an examination of the often lacklustre and empty experience of modern life, contrasted with the energy and optimism of a young girl who went missing in the mid-1980s.[2]What Was Lostwas long listed for the 2007Man Booker Prize for Fictionand theOrange Prize for Fiction,and shortlisted for theGuardian First Book Award.[3][4]It won the Jelf Group First Novel Award at the Guildford Book Festival and the prestigious First Novel prize at the Costa Book Awards in January 2008.[5][6]In April 2008 she was named Newcomer of the Year at theGalaxy British Book Awards.

Her second book,The News Where You Arewas published on 1 July 2010 and launched the following day at Ikon Gallery in Birmingham.[7]It features the tale of a disenchanted local TV news anchor, who becomes obsessed with the unheralded deaths that he is routinely required to report as part of his day job. One of the stories he follows up has a curious connection to his own life and his seemingly ageless predecessor. O'Flynn was praised for being in this novel the "mistress of compassion" and "the JG Ballard of Birmingham...finding poetry and meaning where others see merely boredom and dereliction".[8]

Her third book,Mr. Lynch's Holiday,was published on 1 August 2013, and tells the story of an estranged father and son, both emigrants from their respective homelands, but for very different reasons. Meeting up in an unfinished (but largely abandoned) housing development in Spain, both are in search of a connection with themselves and each other. The novel garnered numerous favourable reviews for its "brilliant wit and warmth",[9]its "rare love story between a father and a son"[10]and its treatment of "the absurdities of the credit boom",[11]"excelling in exploring the strangeness of being the outsider and the stories people tell themselves to survive".[12]

In 2011 she contributed a short story "The Stickiness of Lime Trees" to an anthology supporting The Woodland Trust. The anthology - Why Willows Weep - has so far helped The Woodland Trust plant approximately 50,000 trees, and is to be re-released in paperback format in 2016.

Bibliography[edit]

Incomplete - to be updated

Novels[edit]

  • What Was Lost.2007.
  • The News Where You Are.2010.
  • Mr. Lynch's Holiday.2013.

Children's Novels[edit]

  • Lori and Max.2019.
  • Lori and Max and the Book Thieves.2020.[13]

As editor[edit]

  • Roads Ahead.2009.

Articles[edit]

  • "The Flawed Cartographer".Granta.103:16–19. Autumn 2008.

References[edit]

  1. ^Smith, Samantha (7 March 2007)."A Path Less Published".Transition Tradition. Archived fromthe originalon 9 November 2007.Retrieved11 January2008.
  2. ^Anderson, Hephzibah (28 January 2007)."Now you see her, now you don't".London: The Observer.Retrieved3 January2008.
  3. ^Saunders, Kate (8 August 2007)."What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn".The Times.London.Retrieved3 January2008.
  4. ^Ezard, John (24 August 2007)."Guardian award highlights good year for first-time writers".The Guardian.London.Retrieved3 January2008.
  5. ^Flood, Alison (31 October 2007)."O'Flynn wins Jelf Group award".The Bookseller. Archived fromthe originalon 9 January 2008.Retrieved3 January2008.
  6. ^Alberge, Dayla (3 January 2008)."Rejected author has last laugh".The Times.London.Retrieved3 January2008.
  7. ^"Programme: Current: Book Launch: Catherine O'Flynn:: Ikon Gallery".Archived fromthe originalon 16 June 2011.Retrieved19 June2010.
  8. ^"The News Where You Are by Catherine O'Flynn |Book review".TheGuardian.com.2 July 2010.
  9. ^Saunders, Kate."Mr Lynch's Holiday by Catherine O'Flynn".
  10. ^Katsoulis, Melissa (5 August 2013)."Mr Lynch's Holiday by Catherine O'Flynn, review".The Daily Telegraph.London.
  11. ^"Mr Lynch's Holiday by Catherine O'Flynn – review".TheGuardian.com.16 August 2013.
  12. ^"Spanish lessons".Financial Times.23 August 2013.
  13. ^"Lori and Max and the Book Thieves".The School Reading List.10 October 2020.Retrieved24 January2021.