Sebastian Barry's Biography

Who is Sebastian Barry?

Sebastian Barry was born on 5 July 1955 and studied at Trinity College, Dublin, before taking up a succession of academic posts.

Barry has achieved a strong reputation as a playwright. In particular, his play The Steward of Christendom (1995), won several prestigious awards.

Barry's debut novel was The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty, which was published in 1998.

Sebastian Barry is a versatile writer and as well as novels and plays, has also written poetry and a novel for children.

Fintan O'Toole in The Guardian has compared Barry to Dermot Bolger in their "construction of alternative histories by using fiction to call to mind aspects of Irish reality that have been occluded in official versions of the past."

In 2008 Sebastian Barry was nominated for the Booker for The Secret Scripture.

In January 2009, Sebastian Barry won the Costa Book of the Year Award for The Secret Scripture.

In June 2012, Sebastian Barry won the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction for his novel On Canaan's Side.

In 2016, he published the novel Days Without End. In January 2017, it won the Costa Book of the Year award, making Barry the first novelist to win the Costa twice.

It was also longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2017.

In 2020 he wrote A Thousand Moons.

Sebastian Barry's A Long Long Way

Synopsis: Revolving around the Easter Rising in Ireland and World War 1, A Long Long Way recreates the experience of Willie Dunne, who died aged 21 in October 1918. The Dunne Family have featured in previous works by Sebastian Barry including the aforementioned play, The Steward of Christendom, and the novel Annie Dunne.