Emma Donoghue

Emma Donoghue

Emma Donoghue was born on October 24th, 1969 and is currently 56 years old. Emma Donoghue was born in Dublin, Ireland.

Emma Donoghue is known for writing in the Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Romance, Literary Fiction, and Children's Books genres.

Emma Donoghue has written 14 standalone novels, starting with Stir-Fry in 1994. The most recently released novel was The Paris Express, which was released in 2025. There are no upcoming standalone novels by Emma at this time.

Emma Donoghue has also written the Plays series which has 4 books including Ladies And Gentlemen and Emma Donoghue: Selected Plays.

Emma Donoghue: Awards & Accolades

Many of Emma Donoghue's books have won awards, including:

• Hood won the Stonewall Book Award, Literature, in 1997.
• Slammerkin won the Ferro-Grumley Award, Best Lesbian Fiction, in 2002.
• Room won the Goodreads Awards, Best Fiction, in 2010 as well as the Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize - Best Novel by a Canadian Author in 2010, British Book Awards - Paperback of the Year in 2011, Alex Awards - Best Book in 2011.
• Inseparable won the Stonewall Book Award, Non-fiction, in 2011.
• Astray won the Audie Award, Best Short Stories or Collections, in 2013.

The following novels by Emma Donoghue were nominated for these awards:

• Kissing the Witch: Otherwise Award, Best Science Fiction (1997).
• Eleventh Annual Collection: Bram Stoker Awards, Superior Achievement in an Anthology (1998).
• Life Mask: Ferro-Grumley Award, Best Lesbian Fiction (2005).
• The Sealed Letter: Stonewall Book Award, Literature (2009).
• Room: British Book Awards, International Author of the Year (2010). Booker Prize, Best Fiction Book (2010). Women's Prize, For Fiction (2011). Audie Award, Best Multi-Voiced Performance Award (2011).
• Frog Music: Goodreads Awards, Best Historical Fiction (2014). Stonewall Book Award, Literature (2015).
• The Wonder: Giller Prize Awards, Giller Prize (2016). Goodreads Awards, Best Historical Fiction (2016).
• The Pull of the Stars: Goodreads Awards, Best Historical Fiction (2020). RUSA Awards, Historical Fiction Award (2021).
• Learned by Heart: Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, Best Novel by a Canadian Author (2023).
• The Paris Express: Giller Prize Awards, Giller Prize (2025).

Emma Donoghue: Lists & Other Mentions

• Room was a Richard & Judy Book Club 2011 Spring Pick.
• Frog Music was a BBC Radio 2 Book Club March 2014 Pick.
• The Pull of the Stars was a Richard & Judy Book Club 2021 April Pick and the Barnes & Noble Book Club August 2020 Pick.
• Room:
  1. Good Housekeeping: 100 Best Books to Read by Women Authors Selection in 2021.
  2. CBC: 100 Novels that make you proud to be Canadian Selection in 2017.
  3. BBC: Radio Oxford 100 Books You Must Read Before You Die Selection in 2020.
  4. TES Magazine: Teacher's Favourite Books List Selection in 2013.

Emma Donoghue: TV/Movies Based on Books

In 2015, the novel Room, which was published in 2010, was released as a movie. The adaptation starred the likes of Brie Larson, William H. Macy and Jacob Tremblay, with Brie playing the role of Joy "Ma" Newsome. Emma also wrote the screenplay for Room, and actually wrote it prior to the book being published as she felt it was a book very suitable to be made into a movie. It received a nomination for Best Picture at the Oscars, and Brie Larson won numerous Best Actress awards.

The novel The Wonder, which Emma published in 2016, was made into a movie as well. This adaptation premiered in November 2022 on Netflix. Emma co-wrote the screenplay with Sebastian Lello and Alice Birch. It stars Florence Pugh as Nurse Lib Wright.

The short story Pluck, from the short story collection Touchy Subjects, was released as a short film in 2001.

Related Authors

Fans of Emma Donoghue also enjoy these authors:

1. Patti Callahan Henry, author of: The Secret Book of Flora Lea.
2. Anita Shreve, author of the Fortune's Rocks Quartet Series.
3. Pip Williams, author of: The Dictionary of Lost Words.
4. Evie Woods, author of: The Lost Bookshop.
5. Adriana Trigiani, author of: The Shoemaker's Wife.
6. Amy Tan, author of: The Joy Luck Club.
7. Elizabeth Berg, author of the Mason Series.
8. Sarah Waters, author of: Fingersmith.
9. Ellen Marie Wiseman, author of: What She Left Behind.
10. Ann Napolitano, author of: Hello Beautiful.

Emma Donoghue: F.A.Q