David Park (writer)
David Park is a novelist and poet from Northern Ireland.
Biography
Park was born in Belfast in 1953. He grew up in a Protestant working-class family in East Belfast, going on to attend Queen's University, Belfast, where to was awarded a BA degree in 1975. He then worked as a teacher in County Down, during which time he wrote seven novels before retiring to write full time.Writing career
Park's first book, a collection of short stories entitled Oranges from Spain, was published in 1990, when he was 37 years of age. Following that, he wrote six novels while still working as a teacher. All of those novels and stories were set in Northern Ireland and dealt in some way with the Troubles.By the time he published his eighth book in 2022, Park had retired from teaching.
Before publishing his novels, Park published a volume of poetry with two co-authors. He has also had poetry published elsewhere.
Adaptations
In 2016, a filmed adaptation of Park's novel The Truth Commissioner was broadcast by the BBC. The book was adapted for the screen by Eoin O'Callaghan, directed by Declan Recks, and Roger Allam played the lead role. Filming took place in a number of locations in Northern Ireland between February and April 2015.An adaptation of the same book had previously been broadcast in January 2008 on BBC Radio 4 in the Book at Bedtime slot. The programme was repeated on Radio 4 Extra in May 2011. Another of his books, Travelling in a Strange Land, was adapted for Book at Bedtime in August 2018. That book was also the prompt for a creative collaboration with the photographer Sonya Whitefield, which was published on the web and exhibited at the Market Place Theatre, Armagh, in July 2018.
Awards and nominations
| Year | Book | Award | Result | Ref. |
| 1992 | The Healing | Authors' Club Best First Novel Award | Won | |
| 1992 | The Healing | University of Ulster McCrea Literary Award | Won | |
| 1994 | The Rye Man | University of Ulster McCrea Literary Award | Won | |
| 1996 | Stone Kingdoms | University of Ulster McCrea Literary Award | Won | |
| 2007-2008 | The Truth Commissioner | Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize | Won | |
| 2010 | The Truth Commissioner | International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award | ||
| 2014 | The Light of Amsterdam | International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award | ||
| 2019 | Travelling in a Strange Land | Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year | Won | |
| 2020 | Travelling in a Strange Land | International Dublin Literary Award | ||
| 2023 | Spies in Canaan | Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize |
Park was also awarded the AWB Vincent American Ireland Fund Literary Award in 2008.