Kevin Maher | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1972 (age 52–53) Dublin, Ireland |
| Education | University College Dublin |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1994–present |
| Employer | The Times |
| Children | 3 |
| Website | thetimes |
Kevin Maher (born 1972) is an Irish writer. He is currently employed as afilm critic atThe Times.[1] His work has appeared inThe Guardian,The Independent, andThe Observer. Hisdebut novel,The Fields, was published byReagan Arthur Books in 2013.[2][3] It was listed in the 2013Waterstones 11, a literary book prize aimed at promoting debut authors.
Maher was born inDublin, Ireland, in 1972.[4] His parents were lower middle class Catholics.[2] His grandfather was a fighter in theIrish War of Independence inTipperary.[2] He graduated fromUniversity College Dublin in 1994, with an MA degree in film. During his graduation, he wrote for university magazines.[5]
After graduating, Maher moved toLondon, England, in 1994, to focus on journalism.[4] Before starting his career as a film critic, he worked as a waiter for several years.[6] He wrote forThe Face[7] andTime Out before joiningThe Times. He took a year off in 2001 after having his first child and in 2002, he first approachedThe Times to write for it.[5] He joined the newspaper in 2004.[8] Since then, he has been writing reviews and weekly columns for it. He has interviewed directors includingSpike Lee,[9]Martin Scorsese,[8] andDennis Hopper.
Maher worked as a researcher on theChannel 4 showFilm Night.[2] He also conducted an online course in film criticism forThe Times.[8]
Maher believes that being true to oneself is an important trait for all young writers. In interviews, he has stated that he avoids writing reviews based on discussions with his peer critics, believing they should be written exclusively from one's own perspective.[5] His reviews are often contrary to critical consensus, with an analysis of all his film reviews from 2020 to 2025 as collated byRotten Tomatoes showing the average score of films given 0/5 by Maher being 83%. His other star ratings did however track with the consensus, with one-star films scoring 51%, two-stars 66%, three stars 79%, four stars 84%, and five stars 89%.[5]
Maher lives inHertfordshire, England, along with his three children and wife.[4]
