ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kathleen Mac Mahon is the author of four novels and one children’s book. She also writes short stories and occasionally contributes to both print and broadcast media.

Kathleen Mac Mahon’s first novel, ‘This Is How It Ends’ was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year award, and for two Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards. A Richard and Judy Summer Book Club choice, it was also runner up in a public poll for Book of the Year on RTÉ’s Liveline programme.

Her second novel ‘The Long, Hot Summer,’ was a bestseller in Ireland when it was released in May 2015. Warmly praised by critics and authors, it was published in the U.S. the following year and has been translated into French and German.

‘Nothing But Blue Sky,’ was published in 2020 under the newly launched Sandycove Press imprint of Penguin. The novel was met with universally warm reviews on publication and was longlisted for the 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction.

‘The Home Scar’ is Kathleen’s fourth novel, scheduled for publication in February 2023.

Kathleen’s short stories have been published in a number of leading literary journals, among them The Stinging Fly and The Lonely Crowd, as well as The Irish Times.

Her first children’s story, The Little Girl Who, was published in August 2022. Illustrated by her mother-in-law, the artist Niamh Hurley, it was produced by Artisan House Editions in Letterfrack, County Galway.

Before becoming a full time writer, Kathleen worked with Ireland’s national broadcaster, RTÉ, first as a radio reporter and subsequently as a television journalist on the foreign desk. During her time in RTÉ, she won a National Media Award for News and Current Affairs. She continues to take an interest in news.

Kathleen’s early childhood was spent in Nicaragua and Brazil, but she returned to Ireland with her family before starting senior school. Her meandering college education started at Dublin City University, where she studied International Marketing and Languages for two years. She abandoned that to do a B.A in History and English at University College Dublin, before ending up at Cambridge University, where she took an M.Phil in European Studies.