Katriona O'Sullivan – författare

The No. 1 BestsellerBiography of the Year, Irish Book Awards 2023The Last Word Listeners' Choice Award, Irish Book Awards 2023'One of the best [books] I have read about the complexities of poverty . . . one of the most remarkable people you will ever meet' GuardianLike young girls everywhere Katriona O’Sullivan grew up bright, enthusiastic, curious. But she was also surrounded by abject poverty and chaos, and after she became pregnant and homeless at 15, what followed was five years of barely surviving. Yet today Katriona is an award-winning academic whose work explores barriers to education for girls like her.What set Katriona on this unexpected path were the mentors and supporters who truly saw her. The teachers who showed her how to wash in the school toilets or turned up at her door to convince her to sit at least one GCSE. The community worker who encouraged her to apply for training schemes. The friend who introduced Katriona to Trinity College’s access program while she was a cleaner. Simple acts that would help her turn her life around.Told with warmth, clarity and compassion – compassion for her parents, for her younger self, for others – Poor is both an astonishing personal testimony and an impassioned plea for the future of our children.‘Powerful – Katriona is a legend’ Barry Keoghan‘Raw, passionate and resolutely honest – I’ll never forget it’ Annie Mac'Full of insight . . . so important' Fi Glover, Times Radio 'I read poor in one sitting I found it so compelling . . . moving, uplifting, brave, heroic' Nuala McGovern, Woman's Hour, BBC Radio Four'Moving, funny, brave and original - just like the author . . . absolutely incredible' Roísín Ingle, Irish Times Women's Podcast‘One of the books of the year’ Patrick Kielty, Late Late Show, RTÉ One'One of the most important books I have ever read … a beautiful telling of determination despite the odds' Lynn Ruane, Irish Times 'Fearless, funny and searingly honest' Adil Ray OBE'Raw and remarkable' Irish Independent 'A book of empowerment and hope' Patricia Scanlan‘Remarkable . . . a vivid retelling of Katriona flourishing, despite her beginnings’ BBC News West MidlandsNumber 1 bestseller, Irish Times, March 2024

'Soaring with compassion, intelligence and hard-won wisdom. Ireland's most important contemporary voice.'LOUISE KENNEDY, author of Trespasses'Amazing. I couldn't put it down.'ELAINE FEENEY, author of As You Were'Every woman needs to read this book. Every man needs to read this book.'EDEL COFFEY, author of In Her Place~ ~ ~Hungry is the powerful new memoir from Number One bestselling author Katriona O'Sullivan - a raw, courageous exploration of survival, identity and the lifelong search for self-acceptance.Raised in a home marked by poverty, addiction and abuse, Katriona defied the odds: from teenage motherhood struggling with her own addictions to becoming a university professor and successful author. But beneath the achievements lay a more private struggle - with her body, her worth, and the unrelenting drive to be enough.In this fiercely honest memoir, she interrogates how trauma, class and gender shape the way women see themselves - and how society teaches them to measure their value.Told with stunning courage and vulnerability, Hungry is both a personal reckoning and a powerful reclaiming of body, voice and self. It is one woman's story - and a rallying cry for every woman who has ever felt she had to shrink to survive.MORE PRAISE FOR HUNGRY:'I tore through it.' - TANYA SWEENEY, journalist and author of Esther is Now Following You'As profound and honest as anything I have ever read' - LIZ NUGENT, author of Strange Sally Diamond'A beautiful telling of determination despite the odds' - Irish Times'Raw and remarkable' - Irish IndependentPRAISE FOR KATRIONA O'SULLIVAN:'One of the most remarkable people you will ever meet' - Guardian'Powerful - Katriona is a legend' - BARRY KEOGHAN'Raw, passionate and resolutely honest - I'll never forget it' - ANNIE MAC'Moving, uplifting, brave, heroic' - NUALA MCGOVERN, Woman's Hour, BBC Radio Four

This, the fifth and final volume in the Trinity Tales series, completes a cycle that began with tales from the 1960s. It invites readers to step into the world of Trinity College as it was in the first decade of this century through the reflections of students who attended the university during those years.Within its pages lie the stories of twenty-eight graduates from a mix of diverse backgrounds whose experiences may dispel the myths of what it means to be a ‘Trinity student’. The collection reveals the rapidly changing world of the early 2000s. This was a time of the internet revolution, when social media first affected student life, when mobile phones and laptops became ubiquitous, when handwritten work was passing into history, when The Buttery closed its doors – and all this coming against the backdrop of an overheating then imploding Irish economy.This kaleidoscope of recollections captures a student body in transformation and features stories of personal discovery and achievement against the odds. For some it proved a life-changing era when sexual, racial or class barriers were confronted.This volume concludes a remarkable half-century journey, portraying the lives of others, and of ourselves.