Donal Ryan

Donal Ryan (born 1976) is an Irish writer. His novel The Spinning Heart was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2013 and won the Guardian First Book Award in the same year.

Ryan was born outside Nenagh, Tipperary, in 1976. He holds a degree in law from the University of Limerick. He worked for the National Employment Rights Authority until April 2014, when he became a full-time writer. He is married and lives in Castletroy, County Limerick, with his wife and two children.

Ryan's first two novels, The Spinning Heart and The Thing About December, were between them rejected 47 times before being accepted for publication. The Spinning Heart was longlisted for the Booker Prize. The Thing about December, written before The Spinning Heart, was published in 2013.

• The Spinning Heart (2012)
• The Thing about December (2013)
• A Slanting of the Sun: Stories (2015)
• All We Shall Know (Sept 2016)
• From a Low and Quiet Sea (2018)
• Strange Flowers (2020)

• 2012: Irish Book Awards, winner, Newcomer of the Year (The Spinning Heart)
• 2012: Irish Book Awards, winner, Book of the Year (The Spinning Heart)
• 2013: Irish Book Awards, shortlist, Novel of the Year (The Thing About December)
• 2013: Booker Prize, longlist (The Spinning Heart)
• 2013: Guardian First Book Award, winner (The Spinning Heart)
• 2014: International Dublin Literary Award, shortlist (The Spinning Heart)
• 2015: European Union Prize for Literature (Ireland), winner (The Spinning Heart)
• 2015: Irish Book Awards, winner, Short Story of the Year (A Slanting Of The Sun)
• 2016: Irish Book Awards, shortlist, Novel of the Year (All We Shall Know)
• 2016: Dublin Book Festival, winner, Irish Book of the Decade (The Spinning Heart)
• 2018: Man Booker Prize, longlist (From a Low and Quiet Sea)
• 2018: Irish Book Awards, shortlist, Novel of the Year (From a Low and Quiet Sea)
• 2018: Costa Book Awards, shortlist (From a Low and Quiet Sea)
• 2019: Royal Society of Literature's Ondaatje Prize, longlist (From a Low and Quiet Sea)