Disclaimer:
I have a vested interest in discussing Connor’s writing as I worked with him when I was a part time lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University teaching on the Creative Writing MA and we became friendly as colleagues.

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, (North C) and co-held the Heimbold Chair in Irish Studies at Villanova University., PA

He taught at Sheffield Hallam University in England, where he ran courses in creative writing, modern poetry, and Anglo-Irish literature. He is still teaching - but it’s online for Lancaster (their MA CW online). He and his wife, the academic Mary Peace, live in Sheffield and Portugal


He is the author of four books of poetry, 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. His memoir Red Mist: Roy Keane and the Football Civil War (2004) is an account of Roy Keane's departure from the Republic of Ireland's 2002 World Cup squad.

He has written two novels and has finished a third, as yet unpublished.

David Harmer