Dr Andrew Meehan

Personal statement

I am 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.

In 2022, my third novel Instant Fires was published by New Island Books. Described by the Irish novelist, Lisa McInerney, as ‘another gorgeous exemplar of Andrew Meehan’s exquisite, extraordinary prose, and his instinct for love and soul and life in all of its hues and heartaches,’ Instant Fires continues my exploration of the various shapes to be found in stories of romantic and familial love.

My debut novel One Star Awake (New Island) was longlisted for the 2018 Desmond Elliott Prize, the UK's most prestigious award for debut novelists. It was described by Sue Leonard in the Irish Examiner as ‘mesmerising, inventive, heart-wrenching, and brilliantly realised.’ 

My second book, The Mystery Of Love, a unique and moving reimagining of the relationship between Constance and Oscar Wilde, was published in 2020. My short fiction has been published in The Stinging Fly, The Moth, Banshee, Winter Papers, and in  TOWN & COUNTRY: The Faber Book of New Irish Stories. I also write screenplays, and film adaptations of One Star Awake and The Mystery of Love are in funded development. 

These interests also combine in my classes at undergraduate and postgraduate level on screenwriting and fiction (and the adaptation from one to the other).