Irish award-winning writer and critic. He lived in Spain during Francisco Franco dictature, where he set his first book, The South, in 1990. As a journalist he worked for several Irish publications, mostly covering politics and literature. The novel The Heather Blazing, published in 1992, earned him the Encore Award; followed The Story of the Night in 1996, set among Argentinian LGBT communities in the Eighties, and The Blackwater Lightship in 1999, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize; The Master (2004) is inspired by Henry James’ life, and Brooklyn (2009) earned him the Costa Book Award. He is member of Aosdána association for people who excel in the arts. He teaches at Stanford and at the University of Texas – Austin.