GEMMA MARREN
Agent: Juliet Pickering
Assistant: Finlay Charlesworth
Biography: Gemma Marren is an Irish writer based in County Mayo. Reared in Kent by Irish emigrants, she eventually found her way back to Ireland via London, Paris and Manchester. She worked for many years as a freelance academic copy-editor, but decided she needed to get out more and now works in a special school assisting children with additional needs. She lives in the west of Ireland with her husband, four children, six hens and a muddy cocker spaniel. When her head is not wedged in a book, she spends her time running, baking and coaching girls’ rugby.
Gemma has been shortlisted for the Cuírt New Writers Showcase and longlisted for the Fish Short Story competition, and was a finalist at the Irish Writers’ Centre Novel Fair. Her writing has been generously supported by literary awards including the Tyrone Guthrie Regional Bursary from Mayo Arts Office, the Arts Council/Irish Writers’ Centre National Mentoring Programme, The John Hewitt International Summer School and, most recently, an Arts Council Agility Award.