Patrick McCabe

1955–

Irish novelist and playwright whose fiction, mostly set in small-town Ireland, mixes black comedy with violence and disturbed states of mind. Born in Clones, County Monaghan, he trained as a teacher at St Patrick’s College, Dublin, and taught in London. The Butcher Boy (1992) was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and, like Breakfast on Pluto, was filmed by Neil Jordan. Later books include The Dead School, Winterwood, named Irish Novel of the Year in 2007, and Poguemahone. Breakfast on Pluto, which follows Patrick ‘Pussy’ Braden from a small Irish town to 1970s London, was shortlisted for the 1998 Booker Prize.

Timeline of Patrick McCabe’s life

Works

Prizes