MCKINNEY, Blanaid 1961-

PERSONAL: Born 1961, in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland; immigrated to London, England. Education: Queen's University, Belfast, degree (politics).

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Orion House, 5 Upper St. Martin's Lane, London WC2H 9EA, England.

CAREER: Writer. Department of Trade and Industry, London, England; Aberdeenshire Council, Aberdeenshire, Scotland; Greenwich Waterfront Development Partnership, London, England.

AWARDS, HONORS: RTE/Francis McManus Short Story Competition prize.

WRITINGS:

Big Mouth (short stories), Phoenix (London, England), 2000.

The Ledge (novel), Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 2002.

SIDELIGHTS: Blanaid McKinney, an Irish writer residing in London, has written a collection of short stories and a novel. Her first book, Big Mouth, is a collection of short fiction about socially isolated characters. Times Literary Supplement reviewer Aisling Foster appreciated the "flashes of perception" in the stories, but observed that McKinney's characters are so dysfunctional that it is difficult to feel sympathy for them. Jeremy Worman, however, who reviewed McKinney's novel The Ledge in Times Literary Supplement, considered Big Mouth a "lively" collection marked by "freshness and spontaneity."

Worman described The Ledge as a "darkly humorous" novel. Set in contemporary London, it tells the story of John Kelso, host of a cable television film show, who is kidnaped by aspiring film writer Kenny. Forced to read Kenny's script, John steals it and makes it into a hit movie, whereupon the furious Kenny decides to take revenge. Worman found the novel clever and its resolution satisfying. "The Ledge," he wrote, "is like an ambitious fireworks display in which a few of the fireworks do not light. But there is still more than enough in the novel to dazzle and entertain."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Times Literary Supplement, June 2, 2000, Aisling Foster, review of Big Mouth, p. 11; April 26, 2002, Jeremy Worman, review of The Ledge, p. 21.*