Born in Cork in 1961, Kevin Doyle attended University College Cork where he studied chemistry. A graduate in Organic Synthesis (MSc), he worked in the pharmaceutical industry on drug development and production optimisation in Cork and the later in New Jersey in the USA. After travelling extensively in Australia, Asia and Central America he returned to Cork where he now lives and works.
A
short story writer since the mid 90s, his work has been published in a range of literary journals including Cúirt Journal, Stinging
Fly, The Sunday Tribune, Burning Bush, Southwords, Liblit and The Cork Review. His stories have also been included in the anthologies, Pulse Fiction (London, 1998), Snapshots (London, 1999), Irish Writers Against The War (Dublin, 2003) and Train In The Night (UK, 2010). His work has been profiled at the Frank O’Connor Festival of the Short Story and he has been shortlisted for a number of prestigious
short story awards:
Hennessy Literary Award
Michael McLaverty Short Story Award
Over The Edge New Irish Writer Award
The Kilkenny Prize
Ian
St James International Short Story Award
Kevin Doyle’s writing voice has been described as ‘terse and original’. A self-proclaimed political writer his style is combative and engaging. His stories and characters often meet with unconventional issues in unusual ways. For example in Down The Tunnels a former police officer, on the precipice of mental collapse, relives his career making role in a famous frame-up case. Whereas in Afterall Is This The Man, a young graduate is tested on his suitability for a new job with an invitation to betray another worker.
Currently Kevin Doyle is working on a number of specific projects:
The
Worms That Save The World – is a picture book for children about a community of worms that fight to save their home from a luxury
golf course developer. This is a collaboration with artist, Spark Deeley.
In The Dalton Affair, a short novel set in Cork, Noelie
Sullivan discovers that his old stolen record collection is on sale in a local charity shop. As he delves into the collections’
sudden re-appearance he becomes embroiled in sordid cover-up involving local police and a missing informer.
Meanwhile research continues on a novel set during and after the Spanish Civil War. This work explores the link between south-western Ireland and northern Spain and spans a period of time from the early 1920s to now.
As well as fiction, Kevin Doyle has written extensively about Irish
and radical politics in the alternative press and on the Indymedia news network. He is the author of the pamphlet Parliament
or Democracy? and his interview with Noam Chomsky was included in the study Chomsky On Anarchism. He has been an active
participant in a range of political campaign in the Cork area and is currently involved with Solidarity Books in Cork. He is
a member of the Irish Writers’ Union and the Independent Workers Union.
He teaches creative writing part-time and occasionally works on projects under the direction of Cork City Council and Cork City Library.