Mary Morrissy is the author of three novels, Mother of Pearl, The Pretender and The Rising of Bella Casey and two collections of stories, A Lazy Eye and most recently, Prosperity Drive. Her short fiction has been anthologised widely and won her a Hennessy Award in 1984.  In 1995 she was awarded the prestigious US Lannan Foundation Award for her work.  Her novels have been shortlisted for the Costa award and nominated for the Dublin International Award. She is Associate Director of Creative Writing at University College Cork and a member of Aosdána, Ireland’s academy of writers and artists.