Clare Boylan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 21 April 1948 Dublin, Ireland |
| Died | 16 May 2006(2006-05-16) (aged 58) Dublin, Ireland |
| Occupation | Author, journalist |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Notable awards | Spirit of Life Award Benson & Hedges Journalist of the Year 1974 |
| Spouse | Alan Wilkes |
Clare Boylan (21 April 1948 – 16 May 2006) was anIrish author, journalist and critic for newspapers, magazines and many international broadcast media.
Born inDublin, Ireland, on 21 April 1948, to Patrick and Evelyn Boylan (née Selby),[1][2] Boylan began her career as a journalist at the now defunctIrish Press.[1][3] In 1974, she won the Journalist of the Year award when working in the city for theEvening Press.[2][3]There she met her husband, fellow journalist Alan Wilkes.[2] From 1981, Boylan edited the glossy magazineImage,[3] before largely giving up journalism to focus on a career as an author in 1984.[1][2]
Her novels areHoly Pictures (1983),[4]Last Resorts (1984),Black Baby (1988),[5]Home Rule (1992),Beloved Stranger (1999),Room for a Single Lady (1997) – which won the Spirit of Light Award[2] and was optioned for a film – andEmma Brown (2003).[6][7] The latter work is a continuation of a 20-page fragment written byCharlotte Brontë before her death.[1][6][8]
Boylan's short stories are collected inA Nail on the Head (1983),Concerning Virgins (1990) andThat Bad Woman (1995).[7] The filmMaking Waves, based on her short story "Some Ladies on a Tour", was nominated for anOscar in 1988.
Her non-fiction includesThe Agony and the Ego (1994) andThe Literary Companion to Cats (1994).[6][7] She wrote introductions to the novels ofKate O'Brien andMolly Keane and adapted Molly Keane's novelGood Behaviour as the classic serial forBBC Radio 4 (2004).[6][7] Boylan's work has been translated as far afield as Russia andHong Kong.[7]
Many of her writings were inspired by feminist thinking.[1][2][3] She said of this theme that "by definition, I am a woman writer because the things that interest me are the things that are most interesting to women".[3] Her works gained her membership toAosdána.[2][6][7]
In later life, she lived inCounty Wicklow[2][7] with her husband Alan Wilkes.[1][6] She died in Dublin after a lengthy struggle withovarian cancer, aged 58, on 16 May 2006.[1][6]
