Douglas Kennedy (writer)

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**Douglas Kennedy**

Born:	1955 Manhattan, New York
Occupation:	novelist, travel writer
Genres:	Contemporary fiction

Douglas Kennedy was born in Manhattan in 1955. His father was a commodities broker and his mother worked at NBC. He was educated at The Collegiate School and graduated magna cum laude from Bowdoin College in 1976. He also spent a year studying at Trinity College Dublin.

In 1977, he returned to Dublin and started a co-operative theatre company with a friend. This led him to being hired to run the Abbey Theatre's second house, The Peacock. At the age of 28, he resigned from The Peacock to write full time. After several radio plays for the BBC and one stage play - Send Lawyers, Guns and Money, premiered at the Peacock in 1986 - he decided to switch direction and wrote a narrative travel book, Beyond the Pyramids.

This appeared in 1988, the same year that he and his wife moved to London. Two more non-fiction titles and a novel, The Dead Heart, followed. Then, in 1997, The Big Picture was published to great international acclaim and a career as a critically praised bestselling author was secured. His subsequent novels include The Pursuit of Happiness, A Special Relationship, and State of the Union. His work has been translated into eighteen languages. In April 2007, he was awarded the French decoration, the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He continues to live in London with his wife and two children.