Conor O'Callaghan

Born in 1968 in Newry in Northern Ireland, Conor O’Callaghan grew up in Dundalk, a town just south of the Irish border. He served as writer-in-residence at University College, Dublin, taught at Wake Forest University, and co-held the Heimbold Chair in Irish Studies at Villanova University. Currently, he teaches at Sheffield Hallam University in England, where he teaches courses in creative writing, modern poetry, and Anglo-Irish literature. 
 
He is the author of four books of poetry, including Seatown and Earlier Poems (2000); Fiction (2005), which was shortlisted for the Irish Times Poetry Now Award; and most recently The Sun King (2013). He is also the editor of The Wake Forest Book of Irish Poetry, Volume III. O’Callaghan is the recipient of a number of awards, including the Patrick Kavanagh Award for his first collection of poetry, the Rooney Prize Special Award, the Times Educational Fellowship, and the Bess Hokin Prize from Poetry in 2007. He was shortlisted for the Forward Prize in 1994.
 
In addition to poetry, Conor O’Callaghan’s interests extend to writing on sports, especially soccer and cricket. In 1996, Irish national radio aired O’Callaghan’s radio documentary on cricket in Ireland, The Season. His prose memoir entitled Red Mist: Roy Keane and the Football Civil War deals with the public uproar surrounding Ireland’s involvement in the 2002 World Cup and made the bestseller lists in Ireland and the UK.