Sheila Armstrong – författare

LONGLISTED FOR THE EDGE HILL PRIZE 2022SHORTLISTED FOR SHORT STORY OF THE YEAR AT THE IRISH BOOK AWARDS 2022SHORTLISTED FOR ALCS TOM-GALLON TRUST AWARD'Unsettling, unpredictable, and brilliant' Roddy Doyle'In sumptuous and evocative prose, Sheila Armstrong writes stories that are unnerving and unsettling. Stories which make you go, wait, wait, what was that? ' Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled GroundOn a boat offshore, a fisherman guts a mackerel as he anxiously awaits a midnight rendezvous.Villagers, one by one, disappear into a sinkhole beneath a yew tree.A nameless girl is taped, bound and put on display in a countryside market.A dazzling and disquieting collection of stories, how to gut a fish places the bizarre beside the everyday and then elegantly and expertly blurs the lines. An exciting new Irish writer whose sharp and lyrical prose unsettles and astounds in equal measure, Sheila Armstrong’s exquisitely provocative stories carve their way into your mind and take hold.'Dark, devilishly well written and full of atmosphere, How to Gut a Fish is one of the most original and affecting short story collections I’ve read in years' Jan Carson, author of The Fire Starters

A BBC 2 BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICKSHORTLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE 2024WATERSTONES IRISH BOOK OF THE MONTH JULY 2024‘Vivid, sensuous ... A subtle tale of loss, loneliness and disconnection’PAUL LYNCH, IRISH INDEPENDENT‘Lush, lyrical and cleverly-constructed. A beautiful book’LOUISE KENNEDY‘Beautifully written ... An unchained sea-melody of outsiders, pilgrims and castaways’ANNE ENRIGHTThe disquieting story of an unidentified man as told by those who crossed paths with him on the last day of his life, Sheila Armstrong’s debut novel is haunting, lyrical and darkly suspensefulOn an isolated, windswept beach, a pale figure sits serenely against a sand dune staring out to sea. His hands are folded neatly in his lap and there is a faint smile on his otherwise lifeless face. After months of fruitless investigation, the nameless stranger is buried in an unmarked grave, but the mystery of his life and death lingers on, drawing the nearby villagers into its wake.From strandings to shipwrecks, it is not the first time that strangeness has washed up on their shores.As a chorus of voices come together to unravel the story of one man, alone on a beach, a crosshatched portrait begins to emerge, threaded by lives both true and imagined, real and surreal, past and present.Reader Reviews‘Beautifully written and gently catches the reader with its meditative prose and deep humanity’‘Such a beautiful book’‘Gorgeous wild setting and achingly recognisable characters’

'An absolute tour de force ... One of the most powerful writers at work today' COLIN WALSHA phenomenal novel ... Expansive, funny and so beautiful' LOUISE NEALONFrom a rising star in literary fiction comes a story of two discoveries made deep in an Irish bogland, threading together four lives across time.When a dog finds a strange, alien antler in a restored bog, the owner’s first thought is to keep it for himself. But when he realises the value of his find, he is drawn back to the rich peat to keep searching. It is not one stag skeleton that is buried there, but dozens – an ancient dying ground of the Great Irish Elk.Other things have surfaced from the bog: prehistoric settlements, bronze cauldrons, ancient butter, iron weapons – and the mutilated body of a two-thousand-year-old female. Fifty years ago, a young archaeologist named her Belroe Woman, and dedicated his life to telling the story of her sacrificial death. While state and public treat the bog body as a national treasure, others must reckon with its otherworldly influence over their lives: the peat-cutter who first unearthed her and carries this discovery like a curse; the archaeologist’s daughter who grows up in the shadow of the bog’s strange magnetism; and the young environmental scientist whose work draws her back to where it all began. Haunting and lyrical, The Red Mouth - an béal rua - is the story of two discoveries and the four strangers who become intertwined in their wake. The deep time of the bog is both mystical and sinister: those bound to it must decide what to bury - and what to unearth. PRAISE FOR SHEILA ARMSTRONG:'Unsettling, unpredictable, and brilliant' Roddy Doyle'Vivid, sensuous ... A subtle tale of loss, loneliness and disconnection' Paul Lynch'Beautifully written ... An unchained sea melody' Anne Enright