Sally Rooney

Rooney completed her first novel—which she has described as "absolute trash"—at the age of 15.[14] She began writing "constantly" in late 2014. She completed her debut novel, Conversations with Friends, while still studying for her master's degree in American literature. She wrote 100,000 words of the book in three months.[14]

In 2015, her essay "Even if You Beat Me", about her time as the “top competitive debater on the continent of Europe", was seen by an agent, Tracy Bohan, of the Wylie Agency, and Bohan contacted Rooney. Rooney gave Bohan a manuscript, and Bohan circulated it to publishers, receiving seven bids.[15][16][17]

"She had seen my story and wondered whether I had anything else she could read"..."But I didn’t send her anything for ages"..."I don’t know why. I didn’t want her to see this shoddy draft."[12]

Rooney signed with Tracy Bohan of the Wylie Agency, and Conversations with Friends was subject to a seven-party auction for its publishing rights,which were eventually sold in 12 countries.[18][19] The novel was published in June 2017 by Faber and Faber. It was nominated for the 2018 Swansea University International Dylan Thomas Prize,[20] and the 2018 Folio Prize, and won the 2017 Sunday Times/Peters Fraser & Dunlop Young Writer of the Year Award.[21][22]

In March 2017, her short story "Mr Salary" was shortlisted for the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award.[23] In November, Rooney was announced as editor of the Irish literary magazine The Stinging Fly in November 2017.[24] She was a contributing writer to the magazine.[25] She oversaw the magazine's two issues in 2018, before handing the editorship over to Danny Denton. She remains a contributing editor to the magazine.[26]

In 2018, Rooney was announced as taking part in the Cúirt International Festival of Literature.[27]

Rooney's second novel, Normal People, was published in September 2018, also by Faber & Faber.[28][29] The novel grew out of Rooney's exploration into the history between the two main characters of her short story "At the Clinic."[30] In July 2018, Normal People was longlisted for that year's Man Booker Prize.[31] On 27 November 2018, the work won "Irish Novel of the Year" at the Irish Book Awards[32] and was named Waterstones' Book of the Year for 2018.[33] In January 2019, it won the Costa Book Award (formerly the Whitbread) for the Novel category.[34][35] It was longlisted for the 2019 Dylan Thomas Prize[36] and the 2019 Women's Prize for Fiction.[37]

The novel was made into a 12-part series as a co-production of BBC Three and the online platform Hulu, with filming taking place in Dublin and County Sligo.[38][39] The series was directed by Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie Macdonald.

On 23 April 2019, the New York Public Library's Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers announced its 2019 class of fellows, which included Rooney. The press release stated "she will be writing a new novel under the working title Beautiful World, Where Are You, examining aesthetics and political crisis."[40]

In February 2020, it was announced that the novel Conversations with Friends would be made into a 12-episode BBC Three/Hulu miniseries.[41][42] It was also announced that the creative team behind Normal People, director Lenny Abrahamson and co-writer Alice Birch would be returning.[43][44]

Rooney's third novel, Beautiful World, Where Are You, is set to be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in the United States and by Faber in the UK and Ireland in September 2021.[45][46][47]

• Conversations with Friends. London: Faber and Faber. 2017. ISBN 9780571333127.
• Normal People. London: Faber and Faber. 2018. ISBN 9780571334643.
• Beautiful World, Where Are You. 2021 (forthcoming).

• After Eleanor Left. 1. Ballinafad: Winter Pages. Winter 2015. ISBN 9780993302909.[48][49][50][51][52]
• Concord 34. 63. Dublin: The Dublin Review. Summer 2016. ISBN 9780992991579.[53]
• At the Clinic. 18. London: The White Review. September 2016. ISBN 9780992756291.[54][55]
• "Robbie Brady's astonishing late goal takes its place in our personal histories". New Statesman. 10 August 2017.[56]
• Mr Salary. London: Faber & Faber. 3 January 2019. p. 48. ISBN 9780571351954. OCLC 1104816821.[57]

(First published in Granta 135: New Irish Writing Fiction 19 April 2016.)[58][59]

• "Color and Light". The New Yorker. 18 March 2019.[60]

• "The Most Amazing Live Instrumental Performance You Have Ever Heard". 2 (30). The Stinging Fly. Spring 2015. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)[61]
• "Seven AM in April". 2 (30). The Stinging Fly. Spring 2015. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)[62]
• "An Account of Vital Clues Which Appear To You In A Dream". 2 (30). The Stinging Fly. Spring 2015. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)[63]
• "It Is Monday". 2 (30). The Stinging Fly. Spring 2015. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)[64]
• "Have I Been Severe?". 2 (30). The Stinging Fly. Spring 2015. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)[65]
• Leaving You. 2. The Stinging Fly. Spring 2015. ISBN 9781906539443.[66]
• "After a Road Traffic Accident, Chennai" 2 (30). The Stinging Fly. Spring 2015.
• "The Stillest Horse" 2 (30). The Stinging Fly. Spring 2015.
• "Tírghrá" 2 (30). The Stinging Fly. Spring 2015.
• "Impossibilities" 2 (30). The Stinging Fly. Spring 2015.

• Even if you beat me. 58. The Dublin Review. Spring 2015. ISBN 9780992991524.[11]
• "An Irish Problem". London Review of Books. 24 May 2018.[67]
• "An App to Cure My Fainting Spells". The New Yorker. 20 November 2017.

• Sally Rooney (Author) Aoife McMahon & Sam O'Mahony (Actor Narrators) (2020). Two Stories (Audiobook). Published by Audible & Faber & Faber. This audiobook contains unabridged readings of the stories Mr Salary. and "Color and Light". previously published in Granta and The New Yorker respectively.

• "Troubled Marriages, Old and New". The New York Times. 9 February 2018.