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Dave Duggan

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Dave Duggan (born 1955, London, England) is an Irish novelist and dramatist.

Writing career

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His novels are The Greening of Larry Mahon (2004), A Sudden Sun (2012),[1] and Oak and Stone (2019).[2][3] His book Related Lives: An Imagined Memoir (2016)[4] is an unembellished retelling of the lives of the deceased members of his working-class family, drawing on imagination to fill any factual gaps.

His stage plays include Spike Dreams (2003),[5] Bubbles in the Hot-Tub (2007), Doctor Watt's Squeezebox (2008), Still, The Blackbird Sings (2010),[6] Makaronik (2014),[7] Denizen (2015)[8] and Gruagairí (2007),[9] for which he was awarded a Stewart Parker Trust / BBC Award.[citation needed] He received a Major Arts Award from The Arts Council of Northern Ireland in 2010.[10][11]

His work in Irish includes the novel Makaronik [12] (2018), the on-line drama series Comhairleoirí [13] (2011) and Ór agus Mil [14] (Cló Iar-Chonnacht, 2022).

Between 1996 and 2007, he wrote and directed plays for Sole Purpose Productions, published as Plays in a Peace Process[15] (2008).

He also wrote the screenplay for the 1996 Oscar-nominated, live-action short film Dance Lexie Dance.[16]

Personal life

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He was born in London, the eldest child of Irish parents Eddie and Margaret (née Spillane) Duggan.[17] The family returned to Ireland in 1963 and settled in his parents' home city of Waterford, where he attended local schools. He studied physics at University College Dublin.[citation needed]

Soon after graduating, he worked as a volunteer teacher for two years in the Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo, which is the setting of his first novel, The Greening of Larry Mahon. Following that, he worked as director of a volunteer programme in The Gambia for two years, where he met Diane Traynor, whom he married in 1981. They settled in Derry, Northern Ireland, where he is still based.[18][19]

References

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  1. ^ Gleeson, Sinead. "Revealing the person at the heart of tragedy". The Irish Times.
  2. ^ Burke, Declan. "Crime fiction round-up: Dave Duggan's thriller begins on a football pitch". The Irish Times.
  3. ^ "Book reviews: Oak and Stone by Dave Duggan, Diary of Somebody by Brian Bilston and more". The Irish News. 20 June 2019.
  4. ^ "Derry author Dave Duggan release a new 'imagined memoir'". 26 September 2016.
  5. ^ "Plays: Spike Dreams". www.irishplayography.com.
  6. ^ "Sill, the Blackbird Sings". www.irishplayography.com.
  7. ^ "Plays: Makaronik". www.irishplayography.com.
  8. ^ "Plays: Denizen". www.irishplayography.com.
  9. ^ "Plays: Gruagairí". www.irishplayography.com.
  10. ^ "Arts Council honours four local artists | Arts Council of Northern Ireland".
  11. ^ Service (clouddataservice.co.uk), Cloud Data. "Dave Duggan - Authors". Lagan Press.
  12. ^ "Cló Iar-Chonnacht". www.cic.ie.
  13. ^ "Comhairleoirí". www.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 11 June 2019.
  14. ^ "Cló Iar-Chonnacht".
  15. ^ "An Siopa Leabhar". www.siopaleabhar.com. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020.
  16. ^ "Something to dance about?". The Irish Times. 21 March 1998.
  17. ^ "Related Lives by Dave Duggan review: a patchwork of family memories". The Irish Times.
  18. ^ "Dave duggan | Troubles Archive".
  19. ^ "Writing the latest chapter in Waterford". Irish Examiner. 18 March 2013.