Evelyn Conlon is an Irish novelist and short story writer. She is an elected member of Aosdána, the Irish association which honours distinguished artistic work. She has been writer-in-residence in colleges in many countries and at University College Dublin. A clear-sighted, observant and unsentimental thinker, her work is marked by originality and wit. Her most recent novel Not the Same Sky (Wakefield Press, 2013) steps back in time to tell the story of four young women who were among the 4000 orphaned Irish girls shipped to Australia following the Great Famine of 1847. Earlier novels include Skin of Dreams (Brandon Press, 2003), A Glassful of Letters (Blackstaff Press, 1998) and Stars in the Daytime (Women’s Press, 1990). She has published three collections of short stories, My Head is Opening (Attic Press, 1987), Taking Scarlet as a Real Colour (Blackstaff Press, 1993), the title story of which was performed at the Edinburgh Theatre Festival, and Telling – New and Selected short stories (Blackstaff Press, 2001, Books Upstairs 2016), as well as editing four anthologies, including Cutting the Night in Two (New Island, 2001) and Later On (Brandon Press, 2004). Her stories have been widely anthologised and translated, most recently into Chinese and Tamil.
