Doyle, Roddy (1958– )

Irish novelist. His Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, a novel about growing up in Ireland, written from the point of view of a ten-year-old boy, won the 1997 Booker Prize. Other works include The Commitments (1987; filmed in 1991), The Snapper (1990), The Van (1991), and The Woman Who Walked into Doors (1997), all of which chronicle life in contemporary working-class Dublin.

He was born in Dublin and educated at University College, Dublin. He moved into historical fiction with A Star Called Henry (1999), which looks at one man's involvement in the 1916 Easter Rising. He published a biography of his parents in Rory and Ita (2002).