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Robert McLiam Wilson

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Robert McLiam Wilson
Belfast-born author, Robert McLiam Wilson
Belfast-born author, Robert McLiam Wilson
BornRobert Wilson
(1964-02-24) 24 February 1964 (age 60)
Belfast, Northern Ireland
OccupationNovelist, journalist
LanguageEnglish
EducationSt Malachy's College; St Catharine's College, Cambridge
GenreCrime, Thriller, Satire
Notable worksRipley Bogle, Eureka Street
Notable awardsBetty Trask Award; Rooney Prize

Robert McLiam Wilson (born Robert Wilson, 24 February 1964) [1][2] is a Northern Irish novelist.

Biography

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He was born in the New Lodge district of Belfast and then moved to Turf Lodge and other places in the city.[3]

He attended St Malachy's College and studied English at St Catharine's College, Cambridge;[4] however, he dropped out[5][6] and, for a short time, was homeless.[6] This period of his life profoundly affected his later life and influenced his works.[5]

Wilson moved to Paris where he writes for Charlie Hebdo and Libération.[6] He also writes occasionally for The Guardian, Corriere della Sera and Le Monde.

Work

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McLiam Wilson has written three novels: Ripley Bogle (1989), Manfred's Pain (1992), Eureka Street (1996)[2]

Ripley Bogle is a novel about a homeless man in London. Eureka Street focuses on the lives of two Belfast friends, one Catholic and one Protestant, shortly before and after the IRA ceasefires in 1994. A BBC TV adaptation of Eureka Street was broadcast in 1999.[5]

He is also the author of a non-fiction book about poverty, The Dispossessed (1992),[2] and has made television documentaries for the BBC. His next novel, Extremists, has been postponed again and again.

Critical review

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His work has been described as 'strikingly original'[7] and as 'one of the most influential literary voices to emerge from Northern Ireland since the Troubles began [who has] challenged the understanding of contemporary Irishness'.[8]

Awards

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In 2003, he was named by Granta magazine as one of 20 "Best of Young British Novelists", despite the fact that he has not published new work in English since 1996.[2]

Ripley Bogle won the Rooney Prize and the Hughes Prize in 1989, and a Betty Trask Award and the Irish Book Award in 1990.[2]

Biblio

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References

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  1. ^ Troubles Archive
  2. ^ a b c d e "Robert McLiam Wilson". contemporarywriters. Archived from the original on 3 October 2007. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
  3. ^ "I've always been very anti-IRA and anti-nationalist... but there can't be a comparison with Isis sociopaths". Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  4. ^ Goodreads: Robert McLiam Wilson (Author of Eureka Street)
  5. ^ a b c "Eureka Street and me Robert McLiam Wilson has put a lot of himself into Eureka Street, his novel and now TV drama". Evening Standard. 8 September 1999. Retrieved 1 January 2011.[dead link]
  6. ^ a b c Jarlath Regan (30 January 2016). "Robert McLiam Wilson". An Irishman Abroad (Podcast) (124 ed.). SoundCloud. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  7. ^ Farquharson, Danine (2005). "The language of violence in Robert McLiam Wilson's Eureka Street". New Hobernia Review. 9 (4): 65–78. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  8. ^ Hicks, Patrick (2008). "The failure of parenting and the success of love in Robert McLiam Wilson's Ripley Bogle and Eureka Street". Irish Studies Review. 16 (2): 131–141. Retrieved 16 November 2023.