Author

Oisín McKenna

Primary Agent

Olivia Maidment

+44 (0)20 7499 7550

International Rights

Valentina Paulmichl

+44 (0)20 7499 7550

Film & TV

Hannah Ladds

+44 (0)20 7499 7550

Information

Biography

Oisín McKenna grew up in Drogheda, Ireland, and lives in London. He was awarded the Next Generation Bursary from the Arts Council of Ireland to write Evenings and Weekends and it was developed with further funding from Arts Council England. In 2022, he was awarded a London Writers Award, and in 2017 Oisín was named in the Irish Times as one of the best spoken-word artists in the country. He has written and performed four theatre shows, including ADMIN, an award-winning production at Dublin Fringe 2019, and his writing has appeared in the Irish Times, GQ, Evening Standard, Fantastic Man and more.

Social Links

Books

Featured Book

Summer in London stops for no-one. Not the half-naked boozers, stoners, and cruisers, the hen parties glugging from bejewelled bottles, the drag queens puffing on hurried fags. It’s June 2019, and everyone has converged on the city’s parks, beer gardens and street corners to revel in the collective joys of being alive.

Everyone but Maggie. She’s 30, pregnant and broke. Faced with moving back to the town she fought to escape, she’s wondering if having a baby with boyfriend Ed will be the last spontaneous act of her life. Ed, meanwhile, is trying to run from his past with Maggie’s best friend Phil and harbouring secret dreams of his own.

Phil hates his office job and is living for the weekend, while falling for his housemate, Keith. But there’s a problem: Keith has a boyfriend and there might not be room for three people in the relationship. Then there’s Rosaleen, Phil’s mother, who’s tired of feeling like a side character in her own life. She’s just been diagnosed with cancer and is travelling to London to tell Phil, if she can ever get hold of him.

As Saturday night approaches, all their lives are set to change forever. It’s the hottest summer on record and the weekend is about to begin…

CHOSEN AS A FEATURED TITLE ON THE HERO READING LIST

CHOSEN AS AN IRISH EXAMINER BEST OF 2024

CHOSEN IN ESQUIRE’S BEST OF 2024

FEATURED IN THE IRISH TIMES’ ‘IRISH DEBUT WRITERS TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2024’

CHOSEN AS GQ MAGAZINE’S BEST OF 2024

CHOSEN AS DAZED BEST OF 2024

CHOSEN BY ATTITUDE MAGAZINE AS ONE OF ’30 GAME CHANGING QUEER NOVELS FROM THE PAST THREE DECADES’

CHOSEN AS GLAMOUR’S BEST OF 2024

CHOSEN FOR PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY FEATURE ON ‘WRITERS TO WATCH: 10 PROMISING FICTION DEBUTS, SPRING 2024’

CHOSEN AS APPLE BOOKS’ BOOK OF THE MONTH MAY 2024

CHOSEN AS EASON’S WHAT’S THE STORY PICK

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Press and Reviews

“This vivid realist novel adroitly manoeuvres a sprawling interlocking cast around the hipster haunts of north and east London…It utters a howl of rage at broken,…”

– The Guardian

“A bit like the book version of a Richard Curtis film, but with more grit, more bathroom sex and a literal beached whale.”

– GQ

“McKenna’s book captures what it feels like to be worn out bythe constant calculations, and adjustments and uncertaintiesthat so often underpin a London life.”

– The Independent

“A passionate and thought provoking quintessentially London story that fizzes and sparks with desire… This is the book we predict is going to be a word…”

– GLAMOUR

“Reading Evenings and Weekends is reading a love letter to London: its backstreets, its parties, its specific brand of people. McKenna captures the atmosphere of a…”

– Jenny Mustard, author of Okay Days

“This book is so sumptuous and gorgeous and perfect it makes my heart hurt. I literally can’t do any work cause I need to keep reading…”

– Annie Lord, author of Notes on a Heartbreak

“Sexy, clever and shockingly alive—I couldn’t put it down. I was fascinated by the mix of zeitgeisty humour, wisdom, and existential angst. I have never read…”

– Tomasz Jedrowski, author of Swimming in the Dark

“This is such a love story to cities & people & heartbreaks, death & loss. It's not at all corny, it's smart. But I just finished…”

– Eileen Myles

“A masterpiece: this searing tale of class, love and sex will resonate for generations to come”

– Owen Jones

“One of the most promising spoken word artists in the country, who avoids misty-eyed accounts of society and instead cuts through with brilliant observational political commentary.”

– Irish Times

Oisín McKenna

Primary Agent

International Rights

Film & TV

Biography

Press and Reviews

Related News

Oisín McKenna’s next two books sold to 4th Estate and Mariner in six-figure deals