About Martina

Martina Devlin is an award-winning novelist and journalist with 12 books published. Her latest is Charlotte: A Novel about the Jane Eyre author Charlotte Brontë.

Other novels include Edith, set in turbulent early 1920s Ireland and following the fortunes of Irish R. M. co-author Edith Somerville; About Sisterland, set in the near future in a world ruled by women; The House Where It Happened, a ghost story inspired by Ireland’s only mass witchcraft trial in 1711; and Ship of Dreams about the Titanic – Martina’s great-uncle, who was eloping, drowned when it sank.

Her short story collection is Truth & Dare and features inspirational women from Irish history. One of the stories was adapted as a play, What Would The Countess Say?, performed in various Dublin venues including the Mansion House at the Lord Mayor’s request. It was later published as Call Me Madame.

Another play, Curves of Emotion, focuses on Nora Barnacle’s influence on James Joyce’s work.

She has also written a memoir, The Hollow Heart; and Banksters, a co-authored account of the Irish banking collapse written with RTÉ’s David Murphy.

Martina started writing fiction after winning a Hennessy Literary Award for her first short story in 1996, and has won or been shortlisted for a variety of literary awards including the Royal Society of Literature’s VS Pritchett Prize.

She writes weekly current affairs columns for the Irish Independent and has been named National Newspapers of Ireland columnist of the year. Frequently, she programmes and chairs literary and current affairs events, and is a regular commentator on BBC and RTÉ.

Martina holds a PhD in literary practice from Trinity College Dublin, where she was awarded the Pyle Bursary for her research. She has taught Irish literature there and in other universities. She was born in Omagh and lives in Dublin.