Billy O'Callaghan was born in Cork, Ireland, in 1974. His books include the short story collections: ‘In Exile’ (2008, Mercier Press), ‘In Too Deep’ (2008, Mercier Press), and 'The Things We Lose, the Things We Leave Behind' (2013, New Island Books/2017, CITIC Press, China); and a novel: 'The Dead House' (2017, O'Brien Press/Arcade, USA).His latest novel, 'My Coney Island Baby', was published in 2019 by Jonathan Cape (UK, Ireland & the Commonwealth) and Harper (USA), as well as in translation by Grasset (France), Ambo Anthos (the Netherlands), btb Verlag (Germany) and Paseka (Czech Republic). Translations are also forthcoming from: Jelenkor (Hungary), Ediciones Salamandra (Spain), L’Altra Editorial (Catalonia), and Guanda (Italy).A new short story collection, 'The Boatman, and Other Stories' was published by Jonathan Cape (UK) in January 2020 and Harper Perennial (USA) in April 2020. A new novel, 'Life Sentences', is forthcoming from Jonathan Cape in 2021.His work has been recognised with numerous honours, including three Bursary Awards for Literature from the Arts Council of Ireland, a Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Award and a Costa Short Story Award shortlisting, and his short stories have appeared in more than 100 magazines and literary journals around the world, including: Agni, the Bellevue Literary Review, the Chattahoochee Review, the Kenyon Review, the London Magazine, Narrative, Ploughshares, Salamander and the Saturday Evening Post.
