Biography
Kevin Power is a novelist, essayist and critic from Dublin. His first novel, Bad Day in Blackrock, was published by The Lilliput Press in 2008 and was filmed by Element Films in 2012 as What Richard Did (dir. Lenny Abrahamson). In 2009 Kevin won a Hennessy XO Award for Emerging Fiction and the 2009 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. In 2013 he completed a PhD on the work of Norman Mailer at University College Dublin.
His second novel, White City, was published by Scribner UK in 2021 and has been shortlisted for the Eason Irish Novel of the Year, the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year, and the Dalkey Book Festival Novel of the Year. In 2022 Kevin published The Written World: Essays and Reviews (The Lilliput Press), a collection of his essays and criticism.
His writing has appeared in The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, The Guardian, The Irish Times, The Dublin Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, Literary Review, The Dublin Review of Books, The Irish Independent, The Business Post, and many other places.
His academic work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Cormac McCarthy Journal, The Mailer Review, Irish Journal of American Studies, The Cambridge History of the Irish Novel (Cambridge UP), John Banville in Context (Cambridge UP), and The Cambridge Companion to Martin Amis (Cambridge UP).
Kevin is Assistant Professor of Literary Practice in the School of English, TCD.
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Kevin Power, Babycinos at the End of the World: Cormac McCarthy and Parenthood, The Cormac McCarthy Journal, 21, (1), 2023, p2 - 14
Kevin Power, 'Audiences are composed of sentimental necrophiles': Notes on Norman Mailer's The Deer Park: A Play, The Mailer Review , 14, (1), 2021, p94 - 116
Kevin Power, The Underground Frontier: Norman Mailer's An American Dream, Irish Journal of American Studies, (8), 2019
Kevin Power, Morbid Symptoms: Norman Mailer's Barbary Shore, The Mailer Review, 11, (1), 2017, p150 - 177
Kevin Power, Cures for Cancer: Norman Mailer's Deaths for the Ladies (and Other Disasters), The Mailer Review, 9, (1), 2015, p210 - 226
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
Kevin Power, "Small-town Irish gangsterdom.", Review of WIld Houses, by Colin Barrett , The Irish Times, 2024
Kevin Power, "Gen Z, Explained: The Art of Living in a Digital Age by Roberta Katz et.al.", Review of Gen Z, Explained: The Art of Living in a Digital Age, by Roberta Katz et al , Society, 61, (3), 2024
Kevin Power, "Acid comedy of precarity.", Review of Help Wanted, by Adelle Waldman , The Guardian, 2024
Kevin Power, "The Devouring Mind.", The Dublin Review of Books, Summer 2024, (155), 2024
Kevin Power, "Taking everything to extremes.", Review of Every Man for Himself and God Against All: A Memoir, by Werner Herzog , The Irish Times, 2024
Kevin Power, '"John Barth (1930-2024)."', The Dublin Review of Books, 2024, -
Kevin Power, '"Paul Auster (1947-2024): a life of hiding and seeking."', The Irish Times, 2024, -
Kevin Power, '"Breaking dad: a family trip to the Portuguese Riviera."', The Irish Times, 2024, -
Kevin Power, '"Parental pursuits at Centre Parcs."', The Irish Times, 2024, -
Kevin Power, The Stinging Fly Book Reviewing Workshop with Kevin Power., Online via Zoom, 10th February, 2024, The Stinging Fly
Kevin Power, "End of the affair.", Review of What Will Survive of Us, by Howard Jacobson , The Guardian, 2024
Kevin Power, '"The Stinging Fly Podcast: Kevin Power Reads Eimear Ryan."', The Stinging Fly, 2024, -
Kevin Power, "New Currents in Irish Literature.", 2024, -
Kevin Power, "What Kamala Harris, Donald Trump and JD Vance's favourite books say about them.", 2024, -
Kevin Power, "Shriver"s darkened vision is a triumph of the wilful.", Review of Mania, by Lionel Shriver , Irish Independent, 2024
Kevin Power, "Nobody writes about the reality of parenthood better than Lucy Caldwell.", Review of Openings: Thirteen Stories, by Lucy Caldwell , Irish Independent, 2024
Kevin Power, '"The Literary Festival"', The Irish Times, 2024, -
Kevin Power, "The Kitsch Abyss.", The New York Review of Books, LXXI, (12), 2024, p44 - 46
Kevin Power, "The Future of Decline: Anglo-American Culture at its Limits by Jed Esty, Review of The Future of Decline: Anglo-American Culture at its Limits, by Jed Esty , Society, 61, (3), 2024
Kevin Power, "Covid collection says little for the health of North American fiction.", Review of Fourteen Days, by Margaret Atwood & Douglas Preston , Irish Independent, 2024
Kevin Power, "Where the self is the first object of suspicion.", Review of This Plague of Souls, by Mike McCormack , The Irish Times, 2023
Kevin Power, "A critical machete wielded mercilessly.", Review of Retroland: A Reader"s Guide to the Dazzling Diversity of Modern Fiction, by Peter Kemp , The Irish Times, 2023
Kevin Power, '"The Layers Are Us."', Dublin Exchange: Reflections from a City in Flux, Story, Building, 2023, 3 - 7
Kevin Power, '"Oppenheimer failed to imagine the world he was creating. These books show it in all its horror."', Irish Independent, 2023, -
Kevin Power, "The Critic as Artist (With Apologies to Oscar Wilde).", Carlow-PIttsburgh MFA Invited Talk, Trinity College Dublin, 13th June, 2023
Kevin Power, '"Elizabeth Gilbert"s Russian book reversal proves the mob has got inside writers" heads."', Irish Independent, 2023, -
Kevin Power, '"The Art of Reading Podcast: Kevin Power, White City."', Laureate for Irish Fiction Public Event, Ballinasloe Library, Co. Galway, 2023, -
Kevin Power, "A sublime writer who brought her genius to Grub Street.", Review of A Memoir of My Former Self: A Life in Writing, by Hilary Mantel , The Irish Times, 2023
Kevin Power, "America, the fool"s paradise.", Review of Be Mine, by Richard Ford , The Guardian, 2023
Kevin Power, "Lyrical study of troubled youth.", Review of Shy, by Max Porter , The Guardian, 2023
Kevin Power, "Hippies v. billionaires.", Review of Birnam Wood, by Eleanor Catton , The Guardian, 2023
Kevin Power, "All about the house.", Review of North Woods, by Daniel Mason , The Irish Times, 2023
Kevin Power, '"Notes on Newspaper Book Reviewing."', Irish Writers Handbook 2024, Books Ireland, 2023, -
Kevin Power, Mark McGurl, Everything and Less: The Novel in the Age of Amazon, Society, 60, (1), 2023, p149 - 155
Kevin Power, '"Martin Amis (1949-2023): A `sturdy pillar of high achievement", a master turner of phrases."', The Irish Times, 2023, -
Kevin Power, "New Irish Fiction: A Symposium." Moderator at panel featuring Nicole Flattery, Colin Barrett, and Belinda McKeon., New Irish Fiction, Pulitzer Hall, Columbia University, NY, 25th March, 2023
Kevin Power, "From an unhappy childhood to a place in the stars.", Review of Making It So: A Memoir, by Patrick Stewart , Irish Independent, 2023
Kevin Power, "Crammed with compelling but elusive ideas.", Review of Broken Irelands: Literary Form in Post-Crash Irish Fiction, by Mary McGlynn , The Irish Times, 2023
Kevin Power, Ideal Detachments, The New York Review of Books, LXX, (10), 2023, p11 - 12
Kevin Power, "In a critical mood", Review of Affinities, by Brian Dillon , The irish Times, 2023
Kevin Power, "Gripping in its reality.", Review of Cahokia Jazz, by Francis Spufford , The Irish Times, 2023
Kevin Power, '"Catastrophe"', Dublin Tales, Oxford University Press, 2023, 277 - 292
Kevin Power, "A Matter of Record.", Review of Kairos, by Jenny Erpenbeck , Literary Review, 520, 2023
Kevin Power, "The age of print is over as we become serfs on the web.", Review of The Gutenberg Parenthesis: The Age of Print and its Lessons for the Age of the Internet, by Jeff Jarvis , Irish Independent, 2023
Kevin Power, "A spectacular reckoning with violated innocence.", Review of Old God's Time, by Sebastian Barry , Irish Independent, 2023
Kevin Power, "Zadie Smith finally catches up with her reputation as a novelist.", Review of The Fraud, by Zadie Smith , Irish Independent, 2023
Kevin Power, "Coming of age meets the age of austerity in confessional debut.", Review of Close to Home, by Michael Magee , Irish Independent, 2023
Kevin Power, 'Making Us Good', The Dublin Review of Books, 2023, -
Kevin Power, '"Cormac McCarthy (1933-2023): a reckoning with the Age of Aftermath."', The Irish Times, 2023, -
Kevin Power, An odyssey of fine diplomacy, Review of Ulysses: A Reader's Odyssey, by Daniel Mulhall , The Sunday Times, 13th February, 2022
Kevin Power, Shuggie Redux: pathos punctured by clichés, Review of Young Mungo, by Douglas Stuart , Irish Times, 16th April, 2022
Kevin Power, Barrett finds new territory outside Kevin Barry country, Review of Homesickness: Stories, by Colin Barrett , Irish Independent, 12th March, 2022
Kevin Power, The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War by Louis Menand, Review of The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War, by Louis Menand , Society, 59, (1), 2022, p75-78
Kevin Power, 'The Dublin Review Podcast Episode 12', The Dublin Review , 2022, -
Kevin Power, Island of dreams, Review of The Colony, by Audrey Magee , The Guardian, 6th February, 2022
Kevin Power, John Banville, Claire Hennessy, John Banville & Kevin Power, interviewed by Claire Hennessy., Glor Theatre, Ennis, Co. Clare, 5th March, 2022, Ennis Book Club Festival
Kevin Power, 'How Covid made me embrace the banal on canal bank walks', Irish Times, 13th April, 2022, -
Kevin Power, The Written World: Essays & Reviews, 1st, Dublin, The Lilliput Press, 2022, 272pppp
Kevin Power, 'Hi, My name is Kevin and I can't stop buying books', Irish Times, 27th April , 2022, -
Kevin Power, Across the divide: A masterful novel of love in the Troubles, Review of Trespasses, by Louise Kennedy , The Guardian, 16th April, 2022
Kevin Power, "Attempted Rescues: Notes on Writing.", Bray Literary Festival, Bray, Co. Wicklow, 1st October, 2022
Kevin Power, Researching the Historical Novel with Nuala O'Connor & Kevin Power., TCD English One Dublin One Book, Online (Ireland), 19th April , 2022
Kevin Power, '43 Notes About a Film', Tolka Issue 3, 2022, - 11-33
Kevin Power, 'Cancelling Mailer', Dublin Review of Books Issue 143, 2022, -
Kevin Power, A singular day in Dublin, Review of Ruth & Pen, by Emilie PIne , Irish Times, 7th May, 2022
Kevin Power, 'Normal Sheeple by Ross O'Carroll-Kelly (Paul Howard)', The Stinging Fly, 30th October, 2021, -
Kevin Power, Caoilinn Hughes in Conversation with Kevin Power, TCD English/Arts Council Writer Fellow Event 2021, Online (Ireland), 22nd April , 2021
Kevin Power, White City, London, Scribner UK, 2021, 448pp
Kevin Power, "A 'peacock stylist' who saw our true colours.", Review of A Vision of the World: Selected Stories, by John Cheever , The Sunday Independent, 6th June 2021, 2021
Kevin Power, 'Conspiracies, secrets and lies in a brilliant debut that explores the merging of online and IRL experiences.', UK, The Guardian, 6th February, 2021, -
Kevin Power, '"I don't want my son, as he grows up, to silence his finer feelings." ', Irish Times, Irish Times, 10th July 2021, 2021, -
Kevin Power, 'Kazuo Ishiguro stays true to his vision in story told in glimpses', Ireland, Irish Independent, 27th February, 2021, -
Kevin Power, Lauren Oyler, Niamh Campbell, Conversations with the Contemporary: Imagining the Contemporary, Online (Ireland), 23rd March, 2021, UCD English
Kevin Power, 'What is QAnon? Explaining the conspiracy cult that sees Trump as a messianic genius', Ireland, Irish Independent, 16th January , 2021, -
Kevin Power, '"'The first step was to admit that I knew nothing.'', Irish Times, 28th April 2021, 2021, -
Kevin Power, Across 125th Street, Review of Harlem Shuffle, by Colson Whitehead , Literary Review, (501 (October)), 2021
Kevin Power, 'Dispatches from the digital hellscape. Review of The Disconnect: A Personal History of the Internet by Roisin Kiberd. ', Ireland, The Irish Times, 6th March, 2021, -
Kevin Power, 'The day the earth stood still: remembering September 11', The Business Post, 5th September 2021, 2021, -
Kevin Power, 'The Cat Laughs', Ireland, The Dublin Review of Books Issue 129 (January 2021), 2021, -
Kevin Power, 'Brought to book: what it takes to write a novel', Ireland, Business Post, 17th January, 2021, -
Kevin Power, '"Beyond a Joke." ', Ireland, Dublin Review of Books 134 (June 2021), 2021, -
Kevin Power, Rutger Bregman, Humankind: A Hopeful History, Society, 58, (2), 2021
Kevin Power, '"Fleeting lives caught in passing." Review of We Are Not in the World by Conor O'Callaghan. ', Ireland, Business Post, 28th February, 2021, -
Kevin Power, "Can't Get You Out of My Head: An Emotional History of the Modern World by Adam Curtis." , The Stinging Fly, 15th April 2021, 2021
Kevin Power, Imagining the Worst: Fiction & True Crime, TCD English Evening Lectures 2021, Online (Ireland), 13th April, 2021
Kevin Power, '"The epic drama of fatherhood." ', The Sunday Independent, 20th June 2021, 2021, -
Kevin Power, Colm Toibin richly restores our understanding of a great gay writer, Review of The Magician, by Colm Toibin , Sunday Independent, 19th September, 2021
Kevin Power, 'Mantel Pieces by Hilary Mantel', Ireland, The Stinging Fly , 2021, -
Kevin Power, Masterful page-turner about how we handle pain, Review of Crossroads, by Jonathan Franzen , Irish Independent, 2nd October, 2021
Kevin Power, Colm Toibin , Pure Magic: Colm Toibin in Conversation with Kevin Power, Red Line Book Festival, Civic Theatre, Tallaght, 17th October, 2021
Kevin Power, Rooney lowers the temperature in novel of big ideas., Review of Beautiful World Where Are You, by Sally Rooney , Irish Independent, 4th September 2021, 2021
Kevin Power, 'Tell Us a Story', Dublin Review of Books Issue 139, 2021, -
Kevin Power, '"Acts of Desperation by Megan Nolan."', The Stinging Fly, 23rd June 2021, 2021, -
Kevin Power, The dogs of war, Review of Freight Dogs, by Giles Foden , Irish Times, 11th September 2021, 2021
Kevin Power, '"Fevered Covid tales convey a strange feeling of reassurance." Review of The Decameron Project: 29 New Stories from the Pandemic. ', Ireland, Irish Independent, 28th November, 2020, -
Kevin Power, 'Political puritans who condemn Banville are missing the point.', Ireland, Irish Independent, 5th December, 2020, -
Kevin Power, '"Then Again."', Dublin Review of Books 125 (September 2020), 2020, -
Kevin Power, '"What Goes Up" (Review of Low by Jeet Thayil)', Literary Review Issue 483 (February 2020), 2020, -
Kevin Power, '"Talk About a Revolution"', Dublin Review of Books 123 June 2020, 2020, -
Kevin Power, 'Seigneur Moments', Ireland, The Dublin Review of Books Issue 127 (November 2020). , 2020, -
Kevin Power, 'Review of M. John Harrison: Critical Essays, eds. Williams & Bould.', Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction 136, 49.2 (Summer 2020), 2020, 116 - 119
Kevin Power, '"Who Will Save Us?"', Dublin Review of Books 121, 2020, -
Kevin Power, After Things Fell Apart: America in the Age of Apocalypse, The Nora Niland Lecture, Yeats Day 2020, Online (Ireland), 12th June, 2020
Kevin Power, '"Mini masterpieces set off depth-charge of emotion." Review of That Old Country Music: Stories by Kevin Barry. ', Ireland, Irish Independent, 17th October , 2020, -
Kevin Power, '"Ottessa Moshfegh's Death in Her Hands is a New Kind of Murder Mystery." ', The New Yorker , 2020, -
Kevin Power, '"A Laugh a Month." ', Literary Review Issue 488 (July 2020) , 2020, 64 - 65
Kevin Power, '"Apocalypse No"', Dublin Review of Books 123 June 2020, 2020, -
Kevin Power, '"On Becoming an Americanist"', Irish Journal of American Studies Special Issue , 2020, -
Kevin Power, Adam Mars-Jones in Conversation with Kevin Power, Briena Staunton Fellow Event, The Long Room Hub Arts & Humanities Research Institute, 20th March, 2019
Kevin Power, 'My First Novels', The Danger and the Glory: Irish Writers on Writing, 2019, -
Kevin Power, 'Hating Jonathan Franzen', The Dublin Review of Books 108 (February 2019), 2019, -
Kevin Power, '"Clive James (1939-2019)"', Dublin Review of Books 116, 2019, -
Kevin Power, "The most sacred thing I do is care and provide for my workers, my family": Antinomies of The Office., Confidence-Men and Hucksters, Corruption and Governance in the US: Irish Association for American Studies (IAAS) Annual Conference. , University College Cork, 12th April , 2019
Kevin Power, Review of Adam Roberts: Critical Essays, Eds. Christos & McFarlane. , Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction, 48.1, (132), 2019, p113-6
Kevin Power, The Tree of Liberty and the Blood of Patriots: Gore Vidal, Timothy McVeigh, and the Culture Wars. Conference Keynote. , Common Ground 2019: Identifying Value(s) in Literature, Culture, and Society., Queen's University, Belfast, 20th June , 2019
Kevin Power, 'Triumph of the Will', The Dublin Review of Books 115 (October 2019), 2019, -
Kevin Power, 'A Theft', Banshee: A Literary Journal, 2018, 2 - 27
Kevin Power, 'In the Call Centre', The Dublin Review 70 (Spring 2018), 2018, 27 - 46
Kevin Power, 'Channeling God', The Dublin Review of Books 100 (May 2018), 2018, -
Kevin Power, 'Rugby brawl was more than 'private school brats' behaving badly', The Irish Times 3rd February 2018, 2018, -
Kevin Power, 'Anne Enright in Conversation', Words Ireland, 2018, -
Kevin Power, 'The Nihilists', Reading the Future: New Writing from Ireland, Arlen House, 2018, 256 - 259
Kevin Power, ''While everybody else is going out playing football ... here you are, gnawing away at your insides': An Interview with Patrick McCabe', The Sunday Business Post, 2018, -
Kevin Power, Down & Out in the Deep South, Review of Lake Success, by Gary Shteyngart , Literary Review, (468 ), 2018
Kevin Power, 'An Unlikely Meeting of Minds: An Interview with Dermot Bolger', The Sunday Business Post, 2018, -
Kevin Power, Jungle Fever, Review of Madness is Better Than Defeat, by Ned Beauman , Literary Review, (457), 2017
Kevin Power, 'Thomas M. Disch Versus the Catholic Church: The Cardinal Detoxes', Los Angeles Review of Books, 2017, -
Kevin Power, 'Team Amis', The Dublin Review of Books 94 (November 2017), 2017, -
Kevin Power, 'DeLillo, Lethem, and the Seductive Sentence', The Millions, 2017, -
Kevin Power, 'The Fear Next Time', Guts: The Magazine of Confessional Writing 3 (May 2016), 2016, -
Kevin Power, 'A Mistake', Circle & Square, 2015, -
Kevin Power, 'Everybody Speaks: Utopia and Polyphony in Roddy Doyle's The Commitments', UCD Scholarcast, April 2015, 2015, -
Kevin Power, 'Rogue Writer: An Interview with Jonathan Franzen', The Sunday Business Post, November 8th, 2015, -
Kevin Power, 'The American Girl', Hennessy Book of New Irish Writing 2005-2015, 2015, -
Kevin Power, 'Temporary Arrangement: An Interview with Sebastian Barry', The Sunday Business Post, March 30th, 2014, -
Kevin Power, 'The Difficulty of Writing at All; Or, How One Becomes What One Is: Some Disconnected Thoughts about Growth.', Emerging Perspectives 4.1, 2013, 3 - 16
Kevin Power, 'The Old Regime', New Irish Short Stories, ed. Joseph O'Connor, 2011, 314 - 339
Kevin Power, 'How Norman Mailer Helped Me Deliver', The Sunday Business Post, 1st August, 2010, -
Kevin Power, Bad Day in Blackrock, Dublin/London, Lilliput/Simon & Schuster UK, 2008, 238pp
Kevin Power, 'WIlderness Gothic', (Francis McManus Award Shortlisted Stories), RTE Radio 1, 2008, -
Kevin Power, 'The Dead Hotel', These Are Our Lives, ed. Declan Meade, Stinging Fly Press, 2006, 91 - 101
Research Expertise
Recognition
Representations
Peer Reviewer for Humanities (MDPI)
Member of Editorial Board, Society (journal published by Springer)
Peer reviewer for Irish Gothic Journal
Awards and Honours
Rooney Prize for Irish Literature
Hennessy XO Award for Emerging Fiction
Arts Council Literature Bursary Award
Arts Council Literature Bursary Award
Arts Council Literature Bursary Award
UCD School of English & Drama Doctoral Fellowship
Clinton Institute for American Studies PhD Scholarship 2004
Memberships
Member of Editorial Board, Society (Springer Nature)
Member of Irish Association for American Studies
Member of the Norman Mailer Society