Emily Hourican is the author of five novels, The Glorious Guinness Girls, The Privileged, White Villa, The Blamed and The Outsider, and one book of non-fiction, How To Really Be A Mother.
Her first novel, The Privileged was published in 2016 and became an instant bestseller. It was widely and enthusiastically reviewed, and short-listed for the Best Popular Fiction Awards at the 2016 Irish Book Awards. Her most recent novel, The Glorious Guinness Girls, was again nominated for the Best Popular Fiction Awards at the 2020 Irish Book Awards.
Emily has been an editor – of Himself magazine, The Dubliner magazine and Hospitality Ireland – and a journalist – writing for The Sunday Independent, Image magazine, Woman and Home, Conde Nast Traveller and Time Out – for over 20 years.
Emily was born in Belfast and grew up in Brussels, where she went to the European School and became, for a while, fluent in being a total Eurobrat.
She moved to Dublin in 1990 and studied English and History at UCD, then did a Masters in English Literature, also at UCD. She lives in Dublin with her husband, David, and three children.
In 2015 Emily was diagnosed with mouth cancer, caused by the HPV virus, and treated. She wrote extensively, and very frankly, about the diagnosis, treatment and aftermath, in a series of much praised diaries for the Sunday Independent.
Emily is an articulate, entertaining and experienced interviewer and public speaker. She has regularly appeared on radio and TV, and teaches occasional creative writing classes.
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