About Marian
Biography - Updated 01/2006
Marian Keyes is a publishing phenomenon. Though she didn’t start writing until ten years ago, she is now one of the most successful Irish novelists of all time. She describes herself as “an accidental novelist.” Though she was brought up in a home where a lot of oral story-telling went on, it never occurred to her that she could write. Instead she studied law and accountancy and finally started writing short stories in 1993 “out of the blue.” Though she had no intention of ever writing a novel (“It would take too long”) she sent her short stories to a publisher, with a letter saying she’d started work on a novel. The publishers replied, asking to see the novel, and once her panic had subsided, she began to write what subsequently became her first book Watermelon.
It was published in Ireland in 1995, where it was an immediate, runaway success. Its chatty conversational style and whimsical Irish humour appealed to all age groups, and this appeal spread to Britain when Watermelon was picked as a Fresh Talent book. Other countries followed (most notably the US in 1997) and Marian is now published in thirty-one different languages, the most exotic of which are Japanese and Hebrew.
To date, the woman who said she’d never write a novel has published seven of them: Watermelon, Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, Rachel's Holiday, Last Chance Saloon, Sushi for Beginners, Angels and The Other Side of the Story, all bestsellers around the world, a total of ten milllion of her books having been sold to date. Sushi for Beginner and Angels were No 1 bestsellers on the Sunday Times list, and The Other Side of the Story sold over half a million copies in paperback, making it the second highest selling paperback novel published in 2005.
These books deal variously with modern ailments, including addiction, depression and serious illness, but always written with compassion, humour and hope.
Her work has come to the attention of Hollywood; Rachel’s Holiday will be filmed later this year. Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married has been made into a sixteen part television series, Watermelon was a made for TV movie in 2003, and Last Chance Saloon was filmed in French – Au Secours J’ai Trente Ans was released in 2004.
As well as novels she writes short stories, monthly columns and one-offs for various magazines and other publications. She is also involved with various charities – she contributed to a multi-authored book, Yeats is Dead! where all the royalties were donated to Amnesty International. She has published two collections of her journalism, titled Under the Duvet and most recently, Further Under the Duvet, and donated all royalties from Irish sales to the Simon Community, a charity which works with the homeless.
She was born in Limerick in 1963, and brought up in Cavan, Cork, Galway and Dublin; she spent her twenties in London, but is now living in Dún Laoghaire with her husband Tony. She includes among her hobbies, reading, movies, shoes, handbags and feminism.
More information about Marian is available at www.mariankeyes.com
Publications
Watermelon
Ireland (Poolbeg) 1995; Britain (Reed) 1997; USA (Avon) 1998
Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married
Ireland (Poolbeg) 1996; Britain (Reed) 1997; USA (Avon) 1999
Rachels Holiday
Ireland (Poolbeg) 1998; Britain (Penguin) 1998; USA (Morrow) 2000
Last Chance Saloon
Ireland (Poolbeg) 1999; Britain (Penguin) 1999; USA (Morrow) 2001
Sushi for Beginners
Ireland (Poolbeg) 2000; Britain (Penguin) 2000; USA (Morrow) 2003
Under the Duvet (non fiction)
Britain & Ireland (Penguin) 2001; USA (Morrow) 2004
Angels
Ireland (Poolbeg) 2002; Britain (Penguin) 2002; USA (Morrow) 2002
The Other Side of the Story
Ireland (Poolbeg) 2004; Britain (Penguin) 2004; USA (Morrow) 2004
Further Under the Duvet (non fiction)
Britain & Ireland (Penguin) 2005;
Cracks in My Foundation (same book, different title)
USA (Morrow) 2005
Anybody Out There? forthcoming
Ireland (Poolbeg) 2006; Britain (Penguin) 2006; USA (Morrow) 2006
Other Languages into which Marian’s work has been translated:
Germany
Sweden
Norway
Finland
Denmark
Holland
Poland
Russia
Greece
Turkey
Spain
Catalan
Israel
France
Brazil
Japan
Hungary
Serbia
Croatia
Estonia
Thailand
Korea
Lithuania
Bulgarian
Czech
Italy
Indonesia
Latvia
Romania
Slovenia