Emer Martin

Emer Martin (born 29 February 1972) is an Irish novelist, painter and film-maker who has also lived in Paris, London, the Middle East, and the United States. Her works have won and been nominated for numerous awards.

Life Martin was born in Dublin, Ireland, where she lived most of her childhood. At age 17, Martin left Ireland to travel Europe. She earned her Bachelors of Arts degree in English and Fine Arts from Hunter College, and graduated as class valedictorian in 1988. From 1999 to 2002, she worked as contributing editor for BlackBook Magazine.

Fiction Martin has published four novels and three children's books. Her first novel, Breakfast in Babylon, described the life of a young Irishwoman in the Parisian underworld and won Book of the Year at the 1996 Listowel Writers' Week. More Bread Or I'll Appear, her second novel, was published internationally in 1999. The book was co-authored by Dr. Suzana Tulac and illustrated by Magdalena Zuljevic.

Other works Martin studied painting in New York while at Hunter College. She has had two sell-out solo shows of her paintings at the Origin Gallery in Dublin. Her second film, Valley Of Ghosts, covers a woman who makes a film for her unborn child, whom she is forced to sell and released in 2003. In 2007, Martin co-produced Nuts, which was also Irvine Welsh's directorial debut. She also released her third short film Unaccompanied on DVD in the same year. The film stars Maria Hayden, and features Irvine Welsh as a social worker who finds a young boy from Africa in Dublin.