Cathy Sweeney (IRL) is a writer living in Wexford. Her short fiction has been published in various magazines including The Stinging Fly, The Dublin Review and Granta, and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. “Modern Times”, her collection of short stories, was published in 2020 by The Stinging Fly Press in Dublin and by W&N in London. In 2021 it was translated into Italian and published by Il Saggiatore in Milan. It was shortlisted for the Butler Literary Prize and The John McGahern Book Prize and was named as a Book of the Year by the Guardian newspaper. Her debut novel, “Breakdown”, was published by W&N in January 2024.

Cathy Sweeney has twice been awarded a Literature Bursary from The Arts Council of Ireland and in 2022 she was Writer in Residence at University College Cork. She is currently at work on a novel, “The Villa”, based on the time Oscar Wilde lived spent at the Villa Giudice in Naples following his release from prison. She will live at the Künstlerhaus from October 2024 until March 2025.