Roddy Doyle

Roddy Doyle
Occupation	Novelist, dramatist, short story writer, screenwriter, teacher
Nationality	Irish
Alma mater	University College Dublin
Subject	Working-class Dublin
Notable works	The Barrytown Trilogy, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, The Woman Who Walked into Doors, The Giggler Treatment, A Star Called Henry

Roddy Doyle (Irish: Ruaidhrí Ó Dúill, born 8 May 1958 in Dublin) is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. Several of his books have been made into successful films, beginning with The Commitments in 1991. He won the Booker Prize in 1993.

Doyle grew up in Kilbarrack, Dublin. He now resides in Dublin. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from University College Dublin. He spent several years as an English and geography teacher before becoming a full-time writer in 1993. During this period, one of his pupils was Enda Walsh.

He established a creative writing centre, Fighting Words, which opened in Dublin in January 2009. It was inspired by a visit to his friend Dave Eggers' 826 Valencia project in San Francisco. Fighting Words is open to students of all ages, and a core principle is that all tutoring in creative writing is provided free.

Bibliography

Novels

• The Barrytown Trilogy:
  • The Commitments (1987, 1991 film) — A group of Dublin teenagers, led by Jimmy Rabbitte Jr., decide to form a soul band in the tradition of James Brown.
  • The Snapper (1990, 1993 film) — Jimmy's sister, Sharon, becomes pregnant. She is determined to have the child but refuses to reveal the father's identity to her family.
  • The Van (1991, shortlisted for the 1991 Booker Prize; 1996 film) — Jimmy Sr. is laid off, as is his friend Bimbo. Bimbo buys a used fish and chips van and the two go into business for themselves.
• Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha (1993, winner of the 1993 Booker Prize) — The world as described, understood and misunderstood by a ten-year-old Dubliner.
• Paula Spencer novels:
  • The Woman Who Walked into Doors (1996) — A story of a battered wife, narrated by the victim; despite her husband's increasingly violent behaviour, she defends him, using the classic excuse "I walked into a door" to explain her bruises.
  • Paula Spencer (2006) — Ten years after The Woman Who Walked into Doors, its protagonist returns.
• The Last Roundup:
  • A Star Called Henry (1999) — The story of Henry Smart, an IRA assassin and 1916 Easter Rebellion fighter, from his birth in Dublin to his adulthood when he becomes the father of a young rebel.
  • Oh, Play That Thing! (2004) — Henry Smart's adventures in 1924 America, specifically the Lower East Side of New York City, where he catches the attention of local mobsters by hiring kids to carry his sandwich boards.
  • The Dead Republic (2010) — Henry Smart's adventures with Hollywood film-making

Short stories

• "Recuperation" — The New Yorker, 15 December 2003.
• "The Slave" — Middle-aged man reads Cold Mountain and obsesses over a dead rat.
• "Home to Harlem" — A quarter-black Irish student researches his paper idea in Harlem and looks for relatives. McSweeney's Quarterly Concern #16.
• "New Boy"- A Rwandan refugee's first day at his new Irish school. McSweeney's Quarterly Concern #18.
• "Teaching" — Reflections of a spent, alcoholic teacher. The New Yorker, 2 April 2007.
• "Black Hoodie" — Three students conduct an experiment on racial profiling by store security. McSweeney's Quarterly Concern #23, May 2007.
• "The Dog" — A man ponders the gradual erosion of his marriage. New Yorker, 5 November 2007.
• The Deportees — A short-story collection published in early 2008.
• "Bullfighting" — Four middle-aged friends from Ireland take a week's vacation in Spain and reflect on life. New Yorker, 28 April 2008 [1]
• "The Child" — An insomniac is constantly plagued by intrusive visions of a boy. McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories, 2004.
• "Sleep" — A man admires his wife while she is sleeping, reflecting also on his life with her. The New Yorker, 20 Oct 2008, The Sunday Times, 15th Feb 2009 (online text)
• "The Bandstand" - A homeless Polish immigrant in Dublin comes to terms with money and his family. "San Francisco Panorama," 8 Dec 2009. Also, it was a work in progress published in monthly installments in Dublin immigrant magazine Metro Eireann, and recently
• "Ash" - "The New Yorker", 24 May 2010(online text)

Non-fiction

• Rory and Ita — About Doyle's parents.

Theatre

• Brownbread (1987)
• War (1989)
• The Woman Who Walked into Doors (2003)
• Rewrite of The Playboy of the Western World (2007) with Bisi Adigun

Television screenplay

• Family (1994) — BBC/RTÉ serial which was the forerunner of the 1996 novel The Woman Who Walked Into Doors.

Screenplays

• When Brendan Met Trudy (2000) — A romance about a timid schoolteacher (Brendan) and a spunky thief (Trudy).
• "New Boy" (2008) — Academy Award nominated short film directed by Steph Green based on Doyle short story of same name.

Children's books

• Not Just for Christmas (1999)
• The Giggler Treatment (2000)
• Rover Saves Christmas (2001)
• The Meanwhile Adventures (2004)
• Wilderness (2007)
• Her Mother's Face (2008)

Research work about the author

• An Indecency Decently Put: Roddy Doyle and Contemporary Irish Fiction, by Niall McArdle (M.A. thesis, 1994, University College, Dublin)
• La réécriture de l'histoire dans les Romans de Roddy Doyle, Dermot Bolger et Patrick McCabe by Alain Mouchel-Vallon (PhD thesis, 2005, Reims University, France). [2]

Furthur Reading

• Irish Writers on Writing featuring Roddy Doyle. Edited by Eavan Boland (Trinity University Press, 2007).

External links

• Archive of Doyle's short fiction for The New Yorker. Stories available without a subscription include:

"Ash" (24 May 2010)

"Sleep" (20 Oct 2008)

"Bullfighting" (28 Apr 2008)

"The Dog" (5 Nov 2007)

"Teaching" (2 Apr 2007)

"The Photograph" (16 Oct 2006)

"The Joke" (29 Nov 2004)

"Recuperation" (15 Dec 2003)

• Author page at Irish Writers Online
• Roddy Doyle: Author Biography Postcolonial Studies At Emory.
• Roddy Doyle's verdict on James Joyce's Ulysses
• The Salon Interview: Roddy Doyle
• Roddy Doyle At Fantastic Fiction
• Reviews of Paula Spencer (2006)
• Family at IMDb
• When Brendan Met Trudy at IMDb
• Writing Centre: Roddy Doyle (2009)