Emma Donoghueis the youngest of eight children of Frances and Denis Donoghue. She attended Catholic convent schools in Dublin, apart from one year in New York at the age of ten. In 1990 she earned a first-class honours BA in English and French from University College Dublin, and in 1997 a PhD (on the concept of friendship between men and women in eighteenth-century English fiction) from the University of Cambridge. Since the age of 23, Donoghue has earned her living as a full-time writer. After years of commuting between England, Ireland, and Canada, in 1998 she settled in London, Ontario, where she lives with her partner and their son and daughter.
Genres: Literary Fiction, Historical, Children's Fiction, Mystery
Novels
Stir-Fry (1994)
Hood (1995)
Slammerkin (2000)
Life Mask (2004)
Landing (2007)
The Sealed Letter (2008)
Room (2010)
Frog Music (2014)
The Wonder (2016)
Akin (2019)
The Pull of the Stars (2020)
Haven (2022)
Learned by Heart (2023)
Fourteen Days (2024) (with others)
The Paris Express (2025)
Hood (1995)
Slammerkin (2000)
Life Mask (2004)
Landing (2007)
The Sealed Letter (2008)
Room (2010)
Frog Music (2014)
The Wonder (2016)
Akin (2019)
The Pull of the Stars (2020)
Haven (2022)
Learned by Heart (2023)
Fourteen Days (2024) (with others)
The Paris Express (2025)
Collections
Kissing the Witch (1993)
The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits (2002)
Touchy Subjects (2006)
Three and a Half Deaths (2011)
Astray (2012)
Furies (2023) (with others)
The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits (2002)
Touchy Subjects (2006)
Three and a Half Deaths (2011)
Astray (2012)
Furies (2023) (with others)
Novellas and Short Stories
Anthologies edited
Series contributed to
Plays show
Non fiction show
Books containing stories by Emma Donoghue

Inviting Interruptions (2021)
Wonder Tales in the Twenty-First Century
edited by
Cristina Bacchilega and Jennifer Orme
More books
Award nominations
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Emma Donoghue recommends

Ripeness (2025)
Sarah Moss
"Tender and rueful, Ripeness is a tale of being a foreigner that moves between 1960s Italy and 2020s Ireland, finding pain and bliss in both. Working at the height of her mature powers, Sarah Moss is a marvel of insight and eloquence."

A Family Matter (2025)
Claire Lynch
"A beautifully written, quiet yet devastating rebuke to an era of cruel prejudice, A Family Matter made me weep like a baby."

The Boy from the Sea (2025)
Garrett Carr
"A ruefully funny portrait of a dysfunctional family in a struggling town, The Boy from the Sea rings painfully true. I was gripped."
More recommendations
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