DOUGLAS KENNEDY
The American saga writer shares his top five reads with Judith Spelman
WRITER’S BOOKSHELF
Douglas Kennedy is an American writer, born and raised in Manhattan and educated at Bowdoin College and Trinity College, Dublin. In 1977 he co-founded a theatre company, Dublin Stage One, and later was put in charge of the Abbey Theatre’s studio theatre, The Peacock, where he spent five years. It was during this time he began to write. He sold plays to RTE in Ireland and to Radio 4 in England and in 1983 he left his work at the Abbey Theatre to become a full-time writer. His first book, Beyond the Pyramids: Travels in Egypt, was published in 1988 and this was followed by two further travel books: In God’s Country: Travels in the Bible Belt (1989) and Chasing Mammon: Travels in Pursuit of Money (1992).
His first novel, The Dead Heart, was published in 1994 and this was followed three years later by The Big Picture which was internationally acclaimed, published in 22 languages and sold over three million copies. Since then, his writing has gone from strength to strength and has sold more than 15 million books, with many turned into films. His work is particularly popular in France where he was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.