WALL, William 1955-

PERSONAL:

Born July 6, 1955, in Cork, Ireland; son of Michael (a farmer) and Margaret (a shopkeeper; maiden name, Regan) Wall; married Elizabeth Kirwan (a teacher), June 30, 1979; children: Illan, Oisin. Ethnicity: "Irish." Politics: "Liberal/Left." Religion: "None."

ADDRESSES:

Home—County Cork, Ireland. Agent—Gill Coleridge, 20 Powis Mews, London W11 1JN, England. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Poet and novelist.

WRITINGS:

Mathematics and Other Poems, Collins Press (Cork, Ireland), 1997.

Alice Falling (novel), Norton (New York, NY), 2000.

Minding Children (novel), Hodder/Sceptre (London, England), 2001.

The Map of Tenderness (novel), Hodder/Sceptre (London, England), 2002.

Work represented in anthologies, including Phoenix Irish Short Stories, 1998 and 2001. Contributor of short stories and poetry to periodicals.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

A fourth novel.

SIDELIGHTS:

William Wall told CA: "I've been writing something or other since the age of seven or eight, but I know I became a writer at age twelve when I fell seriously ill with Still's Disease. The continuous presence of this disease in my life, even forty years later, has probably contributed to darkening my work. Shakespeare did his work, too—the book that has most influenced me could well be King Lear. University exposure to existentialism is an additional factor. This dark side of my writing has provoked some controversy, and my friends keep urging me to write something gentle. No doubt I will some day.

"Despite all that I love writing and am rarely completely happy unless I'm working on something. I've written lots of stories and poems and won prizes and publication, given readings and all the usual stuff, but the greatest charge of all is sitting down in front of my Apple iBook knowing there's a set of characters that has a life of its own, and it's my job to chronicle those lives—at least the tiny segment of their existence that happens in my world.

"We live, in relative isolation, just outside Cork City, Ireland. There are green fields in front and behind the house. We're only twenty minutes from the sea. Still we're close enough to the cinema, galleries, theaters, cafés, and restaurants to feel we're living in a city, and to benefit from the advantages that brings. E-mail and the Internet bring the world even closer."