Personal statement

I joined the university in 2018. I am also a novelist, screenwriter, and an experienced script executive, most notably at the Irish Film Board where, as Head of Development, I nurtured the development of numerous Irish feature-films, including the Oscar-nominated animated feature Song of the Sea; the groundbreaking comedy Good Vibrations, and the recent critical and commercial success Black 47. I was also involved as an executive on a number of Oscar nominated and shortlisted short films.

My first novel One Star Awake, published in 2017 by New Island Books, was nominated for the 2018 Desmond Elliot Prize (which has been described as ‘the UK’s most prestigious prize for debut novelists'). It has been described by the Irish Examiner newspaper as ‘mesmerising, inventive, heart-wrenching, and brilliantly realised. The most interesting debut of 2017.’

In 2020, the book is being published in French translation (as À la première étoile) by Joelle Losfeld/Gallimard. And, with development funding from Screen Ireland, it is currently being adapted for film.

The Mystery of Love, my second novel, a fictional account of the marriage of Constance and Oscar Wilde, is being published by Head of Zeus books in February 2020. The Irish Sunday Independent write of the book: 'It would take an audacious writer not just to put words into the mouth of Ireland's best-known wit, but also to reimagine the relationship between Oscar Wilde and his wife Constance. Andrew Meehan has already proved himself a brilliantly inventive writer with his 2017 debut, One Star Awake. [...] What Meehan crucially appears to have captured are the various flavours of love that can be found in most marriages, not least one as eventful as this one. The story of Oscar and Constance has long been compelling: under Meehan's astute eye, even more so. Yet even if The Mystery of Love wasn't written about these two enchanting figures, it's a wonderful read in its own right.'