Mary Costello was born in Galway and is the author of four books.

Her short story collection, The China Factory (2012), was nominated for the Guardian First Book Award and the Irish Book Awards. Her first novel, Academy Street (2014), won the Irish Novel of the Year Award and the Irish Book of the Year in 2014. It was shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award, the Costa First Novel Prize, the EU Prize for Literature among others, and has been translated into many languages.

Her second novel, The River Capture (2019) was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards, the Kerry Group Novel of the Year and the Dalkey Novel Award.

Her second collection of short stories entitled, Barcelona, was published in 2024. Costello’s writing has been praised by JM Coetzee, Joyce Carol Oates, Anne Enright, and Eimear McBride, among others. She lived in Dublin for many years and recently returned to the west of Ireland.

Photo credit: by Daniel O'Brien