Micheál Ó Conghaile

Micheál Ó Conghaile was born in Galway and studied Irish and History at the local National University of Ireland. In 1985 he founded the publishing company Cló Iar-Chonnachta which has since become one of the leading Irish-language book publishers. He is a prolific and versatile writer who has been awarded many prizes for his work: his novel Sna Fir (1999) was shortlisted for the Irish Times Literary Prize 2001, he received the Butler Literary Prize of 1997 and won the Hennessy Literary Award for his short story Athair the same year. Ó Conghaile's short story collections include Mac an tsagairt (1986), An fear a phléasc (1997) and An fear nach ndéanann gáire (2001). He has also published a novella, Seachrán Jeaic Sheáin Johnny (2002), a poetry collection, and he has translated Martin McDonagh's plays The Beauty Queen of Leenane and Lonesome West into Irish. Ó Conghaile's first play, Cúigear Chonamara (2003), had a successful nationwide tour. His novel and several of his short story collections are available in English translation. Micheál Ó Conghaile is a member of Aosdána.