Dr. Kevin Power

Research and Teaching Interests

Kevin Power is a novelist and critic. He graduated from University College Dublin with a BA in 2002, an MA in 2003, and a PhD in American Literature in 2013. His first novel, Bad Day in Blackrock, was published in 2008 and was filmed as What Richard Did (2012), directed by Lenny Abrahamson. In 2008 Kevin won the Hennessy XO Award for Emerging Fiction and in 2009 he won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. From 2014 to 2016 Kevin was Creative Writing Fellow at St Patrick's College, Drumcondra; in 2017-18 he was Assistant Professor in the School of English, Dublin City University. In 2021 his second novel, White City, was published by Scribner UK, and was shortlisted for the Eason Irish Novel of the Year, the Dalkey Book Festival Novel of the Year, and the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year awards. In 2022 he published a collection of criticism, The Written World: Essays and Reviews, with The Lilliput Press.

His fiction and journalism have appeared in a wide range of venues, including: The New Yorker, The Guardian, The Stinging Fly, The Dublin Review, Irish Independent, Tolka, Banshee, New Irish Short Stories (2011), Los Angeles Review of Books, The Irish Times, Literary Review, Irish Journal of American Studies, Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction, The Business Post, The Cormac McCarthy Journal, The Mailer Review, Society, and The Dublin Review of Books.

Kevin's teaching and research interests are focused on creative writing; creative writing pedagogy;  20th and 21st century American literature and film; and contemporary Irish literature. He teaches on the MPhil in Creative Writing and supervises candidates for the PhD in Literary Practice.

Selected Publications  

• The Written World: Essays and Reviews. Criticism. 272pp. The Lilliput Press (2022).  

• White City. Novel. 448pp. Scribner UK (2021; paperback 2022).  

• Bad Day in Blackrock. Novel. 235pp. The Lilliput Press (2008), Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster UK (2010), Plata (Spain, 2010), Kiepenheuer & Witsch (Germany, 2010), Modrijan (Slovenia, 2010), Rocco (Brazil, 2010), Marco Tropea Editore (Italy, 2010).