Paddy Kelly (writer)

Paddy Kelly (6 July 1952) is a prominent Irish author and playwright based in Dublin, Ireland.

Early life

Kelly was born on July 6, 1952 in New Ross, County Wexford, Republic of Ireland. In 1966 he immigrated to New York City where he worked a number of jobs and finished secondary school. Then in 1971 he gained an athletic gymnastics scholarship at The City University of New York and was first introduced to the theatre becoming especially interested in writing. In 1973 having coached the Icelandic National Olympic Team he became a Hospital Corpsman in the U.S. Navy and assisted, among other things, the evacuation of Saigon in 1975 resettling tens of thousands of Vietnamese refugees in Westminster, Orange County.

Career

1976-1999

In Orange County he was first introduced to the industry of filmmaking and subsequently worked as a set carpenter. In 1976 Paddy Kelly returned to City University New York where he would immerse himself in drama to act in over a dozen plays in and out of New York gaining work also as a sign writer on movies. In 1982 he returned to California to get employed as a script editor and proceeded to enhance his skills as a writer. There he wrote his first unpublished novel Politically Erect, satiring the end of the war in Vietnam drawing on his own experiences in Saigon. After California he moved back to the east coast to focus on writing plays as well as directing them where his main aim became satirical and political comedy. He has since directed two dozen professional theatrical productions, written half a dozen feature film scripts and is a regular contributor to various film industry publications.

2000s

Paddy Kelly had been focusing mainly on historical fiction in his writing. In 2009 he published the factual based crime drama Operation Underworld, with a sequel in ProgresS. During his last years he has also written a cookbook and directed numerous cookery television programmes in Ireland. He spends his time teaching cookery classes to minimize stress in everyday life, as well as working on new writing material. His latest novel is called The American Way and is a factual account of the great 1912 woollen mills strike in Lawrence, Mass. It will be published fall of 2011.

Works

Novels

2009: Operation Underworld, Legend Press

2011: The American Way, Fiction4All

Plays

2001: Dr. Lindsay's Christmas

2001: The Commuter

2002: Livestock

2004: Three Thirds

2004: The Agency

2005: The Office Party (Directed only)

2005: Love’s Delusion

2005: The Communication Cord

2006: Plaza Suite(Directed only)

2008: Ghost Story

2009: Fevered Dream

2010: Birdbath (Directed only)

Screenplays

2004: Miss June

2004: Paradise Bay

2005: Rules of the Game

Television

2003: Sleep On It

2004: Trials of E.G. Flynn

2007: Move Over Mom!

Film Shorts

2002: Livestock

2004: Three Thirds

2005: Text in the City

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