Niall Williams was born in Dublin in 1958. He studied English and French literature at University College Dublin before graduating with a Master's degree in Modern American Literature. He moved to New York in 1980 where he married Christine Breen, whom he had met while she was a Master's student also at UCD, and took his first job opening boxes of books in Fox and Sutherland's bookshop in Mount Kisco.

He later worked as a copywriter for Avon Books in New York City before leaving America with Chris in 1985 to attempt to make a life as a writer. They moved on April 1st to the cottage in west Clare that Chris' grandfather had left 80 years before to find his life in America. His first four books were co-written with Chris and tell of their life together in Kiltumper in west Clare.

In 1991, Niall's first play, "The Murphy Initiative," was staged at The Abbey Theatre in Dublin. His second play, "A Little Like Paradise," was produced on the Peacock stage of The Abbey Theatre in 1995. His third play, "The Way You Look Tonight," was produced by Galway's Druid Theatre Company in 1999.

Books by Niall Williams

This Is Happiness

by Niall Williams - Fiction

The rain is stopping. Nobody in the small, forgotten village of Faha remembers when it started. Now --- just as Father Coffey proclaims the coming of electricity --- it is stopping. Seventeen-year-old Noel Crowe is standing outside his grandparents' house shortly after the rain has stopped when he encounters Christy for the first time. Though he can't explain it, Noel knows right then: something has changed. This is the story of all that was to follow: Christy's long-lost love and why he had come to Faha, Noel's own experiences falling in and out of love, and the endlessly postponed arrival of electricity --- a development that, once complete, would leave behind a world that had not changed for centuries.

Four Letters of Love

by Niall Williams