Marian Keyes

Keyes comes from a large family, with many siblings.[2] Born in Limerick and raised in Monkstown, Dublin, she graduated from University College Dublin with a law degree. After completing her studies, Keyes took an administrative job before moving to London in 1986. During this period she became an alcoholic and was affected by clinical depression, culminating in a suicide attempt and subsequent rehabilitation in 1995 at the Rutland Centre in Dublin. In an article for The Daily Telegraph, Keyes details how her struggles with anxiety, depression, and alcoholism began at an early age.[5]

Keyes began writing short stories while suffering from alcoholism. After her treatment at the Rutland Centre she returned to her job in London and submitted her short stories to Poolbeg Press. The publisher encouraged her to submit a full-length novel and Keyes began work on her first book, Watermelon. The novel was published the same year. Since 1995 she has published 13 novels and four works of non-fiction.[6]

Keyes has written frankly about her clinical depression, which left her unable to sleep, read, write, or talk. After a long hiatus due to severe depression, a food title, Saved by Cake, was published in February 2012.[7]

This period lasted about four years. During this time Keyes also wrote The Mystery of Mercy Close, a novel in which the heroine experiences similar battles with depression and suicide attempts as those Keyes herself battled.[8] As Keyes further describes this period of her life: "It was like being in an altered reality . . . I was always melancholic and prone to sadness and hopelessness but this was catastrophic and unimaginable."

In March 2017, Keyes was a guest castaway for BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. Her favourite track was "You Have Been Loved" by George Michael.[9] She revealed that she had battled constant suicidal urges at the height of her mental illness.[4] During her appearance on the show, Keyes also told host Kirsty Young that in spite of all her efforts to treat her depression, ranging from CBT, medication, mindfulness, hospitalisation, diets, among other things, what finally healed her was time: "It was an illness and it ran its course."[10]

Keyes lives in Dún Laoghaire with her husband Tony Baines, after returning to Ireland from London in 1997.

Although many of her novels are known as comedies, they revolve around dark themes often drawn from Keyes's own experiences, including domestic violence, drug abuse, mental illness, divorce and alcoholism. Keyes considers herself a feminist, and has chosen to reflect feminist issues in many of her books.[5]

Keyes' stories usually revolve around a strong female character who overcomes numerous obstacles to achieve lasting happiness. Regarding her decision to use an optimistic tone and hopeful ending, Keyes has said: "I'm very bleak, really melancholic. But I've always used humour as a survival mechanism. I write for me and I need to feel hopeful about the human condition. So no way I'm going to write a downbeat ending. And it isn't entirely ludicrous to suggest that sometimes things might work out for the best."[10]

During an author Q & A in 2014 with Canada's Chatelaine magazine, when asked how she feels about the term "chick lit" Keyes claimed that "it’s meant to be belittling. It’s as if it’s saying, 'Oh you silly girls, with your pinkness and shoes, how will you ever run the world?' But as I’ve matured (haha) I’ve realised that I'm very proud of what I write about and I know that the books I write bring happiness and comfort to people".[11] Yet even her admirers, women themselves, regard her writing as chick lit.[12] At a subsequent event at the Edinburgh Book Festival in August 2020, Keyes rejected the term chick lit as dismissive and sexist, as men writing similar fiction are not described as "dick lit".[13]

Keyes's gift for tackling difficult subjects and making them relatable to women all over, without sacrificing quality or tact, has been recognised by her peers. As told to The Irish Times by another Irish author: "It’s a rare gift....The only other writer I can think of who writes so hilariously and movingly about serious subjects was the late, great Sue Townsend."[8]

In 2014, after Keyes appeared on Marian Finucane's RTÉ One show to talk about her new book, she told her Twitter followers that Finucane had the "compassion and empathy of a cardboard box. Even my mammy called her a bad word".[14]

In 2015, Keyes herself was accused of a lack of empathy after offending the people of two counties — Leitrim and Roscommon — by insulting them on the night of the election count in the marriage referendum. She deleted her original comment, which she admitted was made for "a cheap laugh".[15]

During her appearance on Desert Island Discs in March 2017, Keyes told the host her view that by "conditioning women to think that what they find empowering or valuable is worth less than what men consider to be worthwhile, women are prevented from reaching for parity and the gender gap in power and money between men and women is kept in the favour of men".[10]

In an interview with The Irish Times in 2017, Keyes announced that she suspected "gender bias" to be at play when it comes to the recognition of women writers. She claimed that, despite her perceived success and acclaim, male writers with less commercial success were held in higher regard, indicating her idea that the writing which sells the most is the most well written. "Do you remember in the early noughties when a lot of Irish women writers like Cathy Kelly, Sheila O’Flanagan, Cecelia Ahern were selling all over the world? I don’t feel that was celebrated enough." She went on to "wonder" (her word) that "if a group of young Irish men around the same age had been selling in huge numbers", before directly turning the question she had posed into her view: "I really think it would not have passed unremarked."[8]

She does not believe genes play a part in determining the make up of the individual or their behaviour, telling an interviewer in 2020 that "no one is born a certain way, people learn it".[2]

• 2009 – Irish Book Awards; winner of the Irish Popular Fiction Book for This Charming Man
• 2016 – Irish Book Awards; The Ireland AM Popular Non-Fiction Book of the Year Making It Up As I Go Along

• Official website
• Harper Collins website
• Marian Keyes' Official Wattpad Profile