Keith Ridgway

Keith Ridgway (born 2 October 1965) is an Irish novelist and short story writer. He has won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the Prix Femina Etranger, the Prix du Premier Roman Etranger, the O. Henry Award, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

Life Ridgway was born in 1965 in Dublin. He has lived in London and Dublin and currently lives in south London. He has described himself as a queer, Irish, male writer

In 1998, Ridgway's debut novel, The Long Falling, was published by Faber & Faber, London. Set in rural Ireland and Dublin, it tells of a woman in an abusive relationship and of her gay son who moves to Dublin. The French translation, Mauvaise Pente, was published in 2001. It won the Prix Femina Étranger and the Prix du Premier Roman Etranger. It was adapted into a film, Où va la nuit, by French director Martin Provost in 2011.

A collection of short fiction, Standard Time, was published by Faber & Faber in 2001. It was translated into French, German, and Dutch and won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature.

Ridgway's second novel, The Parts, was published by Faber & Faber in 2003. Set in a contemporary, cosmopolitan Dublin, it tells the interconnecting stories of six main characters. was published by 4th Estate, London, in 2006.

Ridgway's short story, 'Goo Book', was published in the April 11, 2011, issue of The New Yorker magazine. In the same year, his short story, 'Rothko Eggs', was published in Zoetrope: All Story. It won the O. Henry Award in 2012 and was anthologized in the PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories that year.

Both these stories later became part of Ridgway's third novel, Hawthorn & Child, published by Granta Books in 2012. An "out of sync" detective story without a resolution, the novel features two London detectives and also tells the stories of several characters loosely associated with the case they are investigating. Set in a hot summer in south London, once again, the novel features multiple interconnecting characters and stories. It was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize and it won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

Ridgway's next novel, Dooneen, was published in June 2026 by Fitzcarraldo Editions in the United Kingdom.

Ridgway's novels have been translated into several languages and have been published in France, Italy, and Germany.

Awards

Honours 2001 Prix du Premier Roman Etranger 1999 Ferro-Grumley Award

2013