Biography

He is a fan of Chelsea Football Club, London

Teaches creative writing at Barnard College in New York City.

Won the Booker Prize in 1993 for the novel Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha.

While there have been successful adaptions of his work such as The Commitments and The Van When Brendan Met Trudy was his first original film script.

[from the movie 'The Commitments'] Soul is the music people understand. But it's something else 'cause,'cause, 'cause it's honest. It sticks its neck out and says it straight from the heart. Sure, there's a lot of different music you can get off on, but soul is more than that. It takes you somewhere else. It grabs you buy the balls and lifts you above the shite.

[on his conscious decision to move forward] It's a while since I made the decision and it's working. I ask myself, 'Do I want to declare war on the world now?" Am I just going to become the cranky old man, or am I going to enjoy being the cranky old man?' I'm going to enjoy it.

[on the passage of time and his sons leaving home] I miss them. It's grief. You have to decide: is this going to bury me? Am I continually going to think, 'Well, that's another light that's gone out?' Or am I gonna kind of settle into this and enjoy myself? It's a decision you can make. I don't want to sound like some sort of fuckin' life coach, but you can open your head to new experiences.

I had really forgotten how much I enjoyed taking the record out of the sleeve, putting it on the deck, lowering the needle, sitting between the speakers and actively listening. I'm a man of no religion, but I believe in ritual. Those rituals mean more to me than they used to.