David Murphy (Irish writer)
David Murphy is an Irish writer, born in Cork in 1953.
Career
He graduated from UCC (1974) with a degree in Irish, Welsh & European History. In 1976, after a couple of years travelling and working odd jobs, he moved to the Dublin area to begin a teaching career in which he remained until 2003 when he took early retirement to concentrate on writing full time. Since then he has had five titles published. His latest book Walking on Ripples (and first to feature non-fiction) appeared from the Liffey Press (Dublin, October 2014). He is also the author of several other books, all fiction, including one short story collection Lost Notes (Dublin 2004), the title story of which won the inaugural Maurice Walsh Award for short stories, three novels Arkon Chronicles, Longevity City and Bird of Prey (all USA, 2003, 2005 and 2011 respectively).
His short stories have been published and translated more than one hundred times worldwide, including two chapbooks published in 1995 and 1998. As well as the award mentioned above, his stories have also been short-listed for the Aisling Gheal & Molly Keane awards. A founder editor of Albedo One Magazine and co-ordinator of the Aeon Award for short stories, though he has stepped down from those positions to concentrate on writing.
Quotes
"Lost Notes" is a story that approaches greatness. Attempts at description can only diminish it. There are certain passages in great music that, whenever I hear them, I have only to close my eyes to be released from corporeality. "Lost Notes" had the same effect on me." - Dr David Marcus
"It's a rare talent who can show a glimpse of what Ireland is and could become. David Murphy doesn't believe in glimpses. He shows it all, every subtle distinction, every smell, every shade. You will remember this book." - Roelof Goudriaan (on the stories in LOST NOTES).
"One of the most exciting writers exploring the boundaries of the modern short story in Ireland today." - Robert Neilson
The Irish Times described Walking on Ripples as follows: "The latest entry in the well-stocked category of fishing books in the great literary or romantic tradition - reflective, speculative, full of allegory, memory and metaphor" and "Walking on Ripples is that rare creature: a fiction-memoir, a daring blend of fact and award-winning invention, a hybrid rarely seen and seldom caught."[1]