Roddy Doyle (born 8 May 1958) is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. He is the author of ten novels for adults, seven books for children, seven plays and screenplays, and dozens of short stories. Several of his books have been made into films, beginning with The Commitments in 1991. Doyle's work is set primarily in Ireland, especially working-class Dublin, and is notable for its heavy use of dialogue written in slang and Irish English dialect. Doyle was awarded the Booker Prize in 1993 for his novel Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha.
Personal life and history
Doyle was born in Dublin and grew up in Kilbarrack, in a middle-class family. His mother, Ita Bolger Doyle, was a first cousin of the short story writer Maeve Brennan 4th class. Doyle graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from University College Dublin. He spent several years as an English and geography teacher before becoming a full-time writer in 1993. His personal notes and work books reside at the National Library of Ireland.
"I see people in terms of dialogue and I believe that people are their talk."
"It's a big con job. We have sold the myth of Dublin as a sexy place incredibly well; because it is a dreary little dump most of the time."
"When you are writing for fiction everything is in each word and each individual word is a literary decision, whereas if you are writing for the screen and you have a character walking into a room it is because she walks into the room: it doesn't matter if it isn't glorious literature."
"If you're a writer in Dublin and you write a snatch of dialogue, everyone thinks you lifted it from Joyce. The whole idea that he owns language as it is spoken in Dublin is a nonsense. He didn't invent the Dublin accent. It's as if you're encroaching on his area or it's a given that he's on your shoulder. It gets on my nerves."
"Ulysses could have done with a good editor. You know people are always putting Ulysses in the top 10 books ever written but I doubt that any of those people were really moved by it."
"I write short stories when a little idea occurs to me, that I know isn't a part of a novel that will stand by itself and should be concentrated."
"When I'm writing I just think there's only the page and me and nobody else."
"It's great meeting children because you never know what they will say."
"Good ideas are often murdered by better ones."
"It's hard for me to measure them, or to assess my books because I'm so close to them."
"If you are a writer you're at home, which means you're out of touch. You have to make excuses to get out there and look at how the world is changing."
"I'm going to sound like an old man but at my age, it's lovely doing something that you've never done before."
"I wouldn't go out of my way to experience the indignity of middle-age just because it might be good meat for a story."
"I had to make sure I kept an eye on the real world."
"I don't work to any commissions. I do what I want to do."
[Explicit] This event was recorded at Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C. on February 3, 2014.
Founded by Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade in 1984, Politics & Prose Bookstore is Washington, D.C.'s premier independent bookstore and cultural hub, a gathering place for people interested in reading and discussing books. Politics & Prose offers superior service, unusual book choices, and a haven for book lovers in the store and online. Visit them on the web at http://www.politics-prose.com/
published: 17 Mar 2014
Roddy Doyle on Roy Keane
Roddy Doyle discusses co-writing THE SECOND HALF with Roy Keane.
Buy THE SECOND HALF at: http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/roy+keane/roddy+doyle/the+second+half/10373871/
published: 17 Nov 2014
Roddy Doyle and Colm Meaney talk about the origins of Jimmy Rabbitte | RTÉ
Back to Barrytown - The Commitments airs on Sunday at 9.30pm on RTÉ One.
See more at: http://www.rte.ie/player
published: 13 May 2021
Roddy Doyle: The Waterstones Interview
Roddy Doyle's eleventh novel, Smile, is the kind of book that is difficult to talk about unless it's with someone else who has read it; a powerful novel with an ending that forces you to look at the whole book anew. We got the chance to speak to him about the real-life event behind this book, his love of dialogue and his work to help the writers of tomorrow find their own voices.
Smile is available now: http://bit.ly/2we70xy
published: 09 Sep 2017
Roddy Doyle - Family - Episode 2 - John Paul
published: 26 Aug 2013
Irish Writers in America: Roddy Doyle, Enda Walsh
This episode of “Irish Writers in America,” a new 13 part series from CUNY TV (City University of New York television station), features interviews with Roddy Doyle, the icon of Irish literature who broke onto the scene with the story of American pop music’s invasion of Dublin, The Commitments, and Enda Walsh, who won a Tony Award for his libretto of Once.
Roddy Doyle talks about how his experience of fatherhood is preserved in the shape of some of his most loved novels. He discusses how teaching kept him in touch with the world, the experience of his life and his art catching up with one another, and the lingering presence of the Irish language in the speech of his teenage son. He tells the story of self-publishing The Commitments for the price of a second-hand car and what it was like...
published: 08 Jan 2015
Writers Read: Roddy Doyle Master Class
Excerpts from Irish writer Roddy Doyle's master class presentation to writing students at Concordia University in Montreal
published: 17 May 2012
Roddy Doyle Interview
An interview with Roddy Doyle on Author magazine.
For more advice and inspiration, go to: http://www.authormagazine.org/
[Explicit] This event was recorded at Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C. on February 3, 2014.
Founded by Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade in 1984, Pol...
[Explicit] This event was recorded at Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C. on February 3, 2014.
Founded by Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade in 1984, Politics & Prose Bookstore is Washington, D.C.'s premier independent bookstore and cultural hub, a gathering place for people interested in reading and discussing books. Politics & Prose offers superior service, unusual book choices, and a haven for book lovers in the store and online. Visit them on the web at http://www.politics-prose.com/
[Explicit] This event was recorded at Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C. on February 3, 2014.
Founded by Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade in 1984, Politics & Prose Bookstore is Washington, D.C.'s premier independent bookstore and cultural hub, a gathering place for people interested in reading and discussing books. Politics & Prose offers superior service, unusual book choices, and a haven for book lovers in the store and online. Visit them on the web at http://www.politics-prose.com/
Roddy Doyle discusses co-writing THE SECOND HALF with Roy Keane.
Buy THE SECOND HALF at: http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/roy+keane/roddy+doy...
Roddy Doyle discusses co-writing THE SECOND HALF with Roy Keane.
Buy THE SECOND HALF at: http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/roy+keane/roddy+doyle/the+second+half/10373871/
Roddy Doyle discusses co-writing THE SECOND HALF with Roy Keane.
Buy THE SECOND HALF at: http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/roy+keane/roddy+doyle/the+second+half/10373871/
Roddy Doyle's eleventh novel, Smile, is the kind of book that is difficult to talk about unless it's with someone else who has read it; a powerful novel with an...
Roddy Doyle's eleventh novel, Smile, is the kind of book that is difficult to talk about unless it's with someone else who has read it; a powerful novel with an ending that forces you to look at the whole book anew. We got the chance to speak to him about the real-life event behind this book, his love of dialogue and his work to help the writers of tomorrow find their own voices.
Smile is available now: http://bit.ly/2we70xy
Roddy Doyle's eleventh novel, Smile, is the kind of book that is difficult to talk about unless it's with someone else who has read it; a powerful novel with an ending that forces you to look at the whole book anew. We got the chance to speak to him about the real-life event behind this book, his love of dialogue and his work to help the writers of tomorrow find their own voices.
Smile is available now: http://bit.ly/2we70xy
This episode of “Irish Writers in America,” a new 13 part series from CUNY TV (City University of New York television station), features interviews with Roddy D...
This episode of “Irish Writers in America,” a new 13 part series from CUNY TV (City University of New York television station), features interviews with Roddy Doyle, the icon of Irish literature who broke onto the scene with the story of American pop music’s invasion of Dublin, The Commitments, and Enda Walsh, who won a Tony Award for his libretto of Once.
Roddy Doyle talks about how his experience of fatherhood is preserved in the shape of some of his most loved novels. He discusses how teaching kept him in touch with the world, the experience of his life and his art catching up with one another, and the lingering presence of the Irish language in the speech of his teenage son. He tells the story of self-publishing The Commitments for the price of a second-hand car and what it was like for the book to become a hit movie. Explanations of how he went about creating one of his most famous characters, Henry Smart, and how he works to infuse his novels with the real sound of Dublin streets, create an impression of a novelist working at once from imagination and from his life.
Enda Walsh describes what it was like to be a student in Roddy Doyle’s high school classroom and how he came into his sense of himself as a writer. He talks about experiences with his first theater troupe back in Cork, Ireland, the bad plays they put on, the darkness people see in standout works of his such as Misterman and The Walworth Farce, and the impetus for his break-out success, Disco Pigs, which helped to launch the career of Irish actor Cillian Murphy. Interviewed in the beautiful American Irish Historical Society, Walsh explains the feeling of arriving on the backs of literary greats like Beckett and Joyce and his initial hesitations about writing the screenplay of Steve McQueen’s award-winning film about Bobby Sands, Hunger.
The story of the teacher and the student, this episode offers perspective on how the Irish literary tradition moves down the generations.
Taped: 12-03-13
A galaxy of 23 great contemporary writers share intimate thoughts about writing, creativity, and the influences of being Irish or Irish-American in a new 13-part television series, Irish Writers in America.
Watch more Irish Writers http://www.tv.cuny.edu/show/irishwriters/
This episode of “Irish Writers in America,” a new 13 part series from CUNY TV (City University of New York television station), features interviews with Roddy Doyle, the icon of Irish literature who broke onto the scene with the story of American pop music’s invasion of Dublin, The Commitments, and Enda Walsh, who won a Tony Award for his libretto of Once.
Roddy Doyle talks about how his experience of fatherhood is preserved in the shape of some of his most loved novels. He discusses how teaching kept him in touch with the world, the experience of his life and his art catching up with one another, and the lingering presence of the Irish language in the speech of his teenage son. He tells the story of self-publishing The Commitments for the price of a second-hand car and what it was like for the book to become a hit movie. Explanations of how he went about creating one of his most famous characters, Henry Smart, and how he works to infuse his novels with the real sound of Dublin streets, create an impression of a novelist working at once from imagination and from his life.
Enda Walsh describes what it was like to be a student in Roddy Doyle’s high school classroom and how he came into his sense of himself as a writer. He talks about experiences with his first theater troupe back in Cork, Ireland, the bad plays they put on, the darkness people see in standout works of his such as Misterman and The Walworth Farce, and the impetus for his break-out success, Disco Pigs, which helped to launch the career of Irish actor Cillian Murphy. Interviewed in the beautiful American Irish Historical Society, Walsh explains the feeling of arriving on the backs of literary greats like Beckett and Joyce and his initial hesitations about writing the screenplay of Steve McQueen’s award-winning film about Bobby Sands, Hunger.
The story of the teacher and the student, this episode offers perspective on how the Irish literary tradition moves down the generations.
Taped: 12-03-13
A galaxy of 23 great contemporary writers share intimate thoughts about writing, creativity, and the influences of being Irish or Irish-American in a new 13-part television series, Irish Writers in America.
Watch more Irish Writers http://www.tv.cuny.edu/show/irishwriters/
[Explicit] This event was recorded at Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C. on February 3, 2014.
Founded by Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade in 1984, Politics & Prose Bookstore is Washington, D.C.'s premier independent bookstore and cultural hub, a gathering place for people interested in reading and discussing books. Politics & Prose offers superior service, unusual book choices, and a haven for book lovers in the store and online. Visit them on the web at http://www.politics-prose.com/
Roddy Doyle discusses co-writing THE SECOND HALF with Roy Keane.
Buy THE SECOND HALF at: http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/roy+keane/roddy+doyle/the+second+half/10373871/
Roddy Doyle's eleventh novel, Smile, is the kind of book that is difficult to talk about unless it's with someone else who has read it; a powerful novel with an ending that forces you to look at the whole book anew. We got the chance to speak to him about the real-life event behind this book, his love of dialogue and his work to help the writers of tomorrow find their own voices.
Smile is available now: http://bit.ly/2we70xy
This episode of “Irish Writers in America,” a new 13 part series from CUNY TV (City University of New York television station), features interviews with Roddy Doyle, the icon of Irish literature who broke onto the scene with the story of American pop music’s invasion of Dublin, The Commitments, and Enda Walsh, who won a Tony Award for his libretto of Once.
Roddy Doyle talks about how his experience of fatherhood is preserved in the shape of some of his most loved novels. He discusses how teaching kept him in touch with the world, the experience of his life and his art catching up with one another, and the lingering presence of the Irish language in the speech of his teenage son. He tells the story of self-publishing The Commitments for the price of a second-hand car and what it was like for the book to become a hit movie. Explanations of how he went about creating one of his most famous characters, Henry Smart, and how he works to infuse his novels with the real sound of Dublin streets, create an impression of a novelist working at once from imagination and from his life.
Enda Walsh describes what it was like to be a student in Roddy Doyle’s high school classroom and how he came into his sense of himself as a writer. He talks about experiences with his first theater troupe back in Cork, Ireland, the bad plays they put on, the darkness people see in standout works of his such as Misterman and The Walworth Farce, and the impetus for his break-out success, Disco Pigs, which helped to launch the career of Irish actor Cillian Murphy. Interviewed in the beautiful American Irish Historical Society, Walsh explains the feeling of arriving on the backs of literary greats like Beckett and Joyce and his initial hesitations about writing the screenplay of Steve McQueen’s award-winning film about Bobby Sands, Hunger.
The story of the teacher and the student, this episode offers perspective on how the Irish literary tradition moves down the generations.
Taped: 12-03-13
A galaxy of 23 great contemporary writers share intimate thoughts about writing, creativity, and the influences of being Irish or Irish-American in a new 13-part television series, Irish Writers in America.
Watch more Irish Writers http://www.tv.cuny.edu/show/irishwriters/
Roddy Doyle (born 8 May 1958) is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. He is the author of ten novels for adults, seven books for children, seven plays and screenplays, and dozens of short stories. Several of his books have been made into films, beginning with The Commitments in 1991. Doyle's work is set primarily in Ireland, especially working-class Dublin, and is notable for its heavy use of dialogue written in slang and Irish English dialect. Doyle was awarded the Booker Prize in 1993 for his novel Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha.
Personal life and history
Doyle was born in Dublin and grew up in Kilbarrack, in a middle-class family. His mother, Ita Bolger Doyle, was a first cousin of the short story writer Maeve Brennan 4th class. Doyle graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from University College Dublin. He spent several years as an English and geography teacher before becoming a full-time writer in 1993. His personal notes and work books reside at the National Library of Ireland.
Today she made the pain stop With the sound of her voice I've learned to live with doubt And I've learned to live without But not by choice I've had enough sad memories To last me all my life I've learned to live with doubt And I've learned to live without But not this time I was walking wounded I said, "Never again" She makes it easy She's my best friend, my best friend She's right I look in her eyes I like what I find I've learned to live with doubt And I've learned to live without But not this time We speak the same anguish When we make love she smiles I've learned to live with doubt And I've learned to live without But not this time I was walking wounded I said, "Never again" She makes it so easy She's my best friend, my best friend She's right I was walking wounded I said, "Never again" She makes me happy To be her best friend She says, she's my best friend
... while The Ark presents The Giggler Treatment, a marvellous, mischievous new musical based on the novel by Roddy Doyle for children and grown-ups alike, and The Borrowers is at the Gate Theatre.
It’s super dumbed-down Roddy Doyle invested with the nudge-nudge, wink-wink, please-make-it-stop spirit of a lesser Carry On film, all taped together with O’Carroll’s broader-than-a-breadboard performance as the eponymous Finglas grandmother ... .
In the particular is contained the universal,” he wrote ...Open to all, it showcases impressive archival collections, including personal letters and notebooks of writers like Joyce, Yeats, Toibin, Roddy Doyle, and Seamus Heaney ... Listen NowAgain ... a tower.
Thirty years afterFamily aired on RTÉ, Ireland has changed in many ways but domestic violence is still ugly truth ...Ballymun was chosen ‘because it’s an internationally recognisable landscape’ for a story that could happen in any city Roddy Doyle ... .
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon's 'omnium-gatherum' of poetry, prose and music returns for a four-date tour of the country; special guests will include Glen Hansard, Roddy Doyle, Liz Nugent, ...
Richy CravenJohn Boyne...SpiritLevel ... Some of our best novelists, including Paul Howard, Marian Keyes and Roddy Doyle, write brilliant comic fiction and, as anyone who’s ever attended an open mic night will know, making people laugh is no easy feat ... .
The four part mini-series about a working-class Dublin family was written by Roddy Doyle (the author of The Commitments) and it racked up an audience of millions when it aired on RTE in 1994...Related articles. INTERVIEW. Stephen Rea ... INTERVIEW ... .
