Paul Murray

Seven years after his award-nominated debut novel, An Evening of Long Goodbyes, Paul Murray’s long-awaited second novel Skippy Dies, has been described as “one of the most funny, enjoyable and moving reads of the year” (the Guardian). A dark comedy set in a Dublin Catholic school run by priests, Murray skillfully replicates the adolescence mindset of teenage boys: the optimism and cynicism, the fantasy and cruelty – supported with a dialogue that’s joyful, dirty and sex-obsessed. Along with satchels full of comedy, there’s also a tragic undertone – but Murray doesn’t shy away from the difficult material and covers everything from love and death to the war and drugs to porn and prehistoric portals into fairy kingdoms.

We’re delighted to welcome Paul back to Port Eliot this year.

“A gigantic, marvellous, witty, heartbreaking novel … Murray is excellent at capturing the woes of adolescence…the writing is second to none, the banter between boys brilliant.”
— The Daily Telegraph

“Paul Murray proves that he can conjure up a whole psychic world, from its darkest, most savagely funny cruelty to its wildest flights of fantasy-fuelled innocence.”
— The Sunday Times