Louise Kennedy (writer)

Louise Kennedy (born 1967 (age 47)) is an Irish writer.

Early life and education
Kennedy grew up in Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland, and, from the age of 12, in Dublin and Kildare. She worked as a chef for 30 years before joining a creative writing group at a friend's insistence. She has an MA and a PhD in creative writing from Queen's University Belfast.

Writing
Kennedy's early short stories appeared in publications including The Stinging Fly, The Tangerine, Banshee, Wasafiri and Ambit. She was shortlisted for the 2019 and 2020 Sunday Times Short Story Awards, for "In Silhouette" and "Sparing the Heather" respectively.

Kennedy's first novel, Trespasses (2022), was shortlisted for the 2022 (inaugural) Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize, and for the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction. Kennedy has said that it is "a star-crossed love story set in a small town near Belfast in 1975, at the height of the time known as The Troubles".

She published a book of short stories, The End of the World Is a Cul de Sac, in 2023. They were described by Kirkus Reviews as "set in a contemporary Ireland divided by wealth and education". The Guardian reviewer called it a "dazzling, heartbreaking debut collection", and the New York Journal of Books wrote of "deep-probing, slice-of-life stories seamlessly woven in stark vignettes without a filter".

She has also written for The Guardian, The Irish Times, and BBC Radio 4.

Personal life
Kennedy lives in Sligo.