Roisin Meaney

In 1977 Roisin Meaney finished a sentence and won a car. The sentence was 'I would like to win a Ford Fiesta because ...my father won't let me drive his.' Over the years that followed she wrote a lot more sentences and won a lot more prizes. In 2001 she finally decided to keep writing sentences until she filled a book, and in 2008, with three published novels under her belt, she gave up her teaching job to become a fulltime writer. Since 2001 she's written twenty-three adult novels and three children's books. Her work has been translated into German, Spanish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Italian, Russian, Polish and Slovenian. Two of her books have also been published in the US: Semi-Sweet (Irish title Love in the Making) and Life Drawing for Beginners (Irish title The Things We Do for Love), and several books have been distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Hachette Australia.

All of Roisin's novels have made it into the Irish bestseller list. Four of them, One Summer (2012), After the Wedding (2014), I'll Be Home for Christmas (2015) and The Birthday Party (2019) form a series; all are set on Roone, a small make-believe island (but strongly inspired by the very real Valentia Island) located off the west coast of Ireland.

Roisin was shortlisted in the 2022 Irish Book Awards in the Library Association of Ireland Author of the Year category, and again in 2025 in the Popular Fiction category for Moving On. Her latest book, Second Chances, was published by Hachette Ireland in Feb 2026, and by Sphere Books UK in July 2026. She is currently working on her next novel. She lives in a West of Ireland cottage with too many cats. For more information follow her on Bluesky.