Fergal O'Byrne is an award winning writer for print, stage and screen. His debut novel Trolley Ride in Manhattan (Mentor Books, 2000) has become a cult classic.
His short stories have garnered many awards including:
(perhaps laurels here)
- Sweetpea, Longlisted Colm Toibin Internationl Short Story Award 2022
- at the bottom of the world, Shortlisted, John McGahern Award 2021
- Silvercup, Shortlisted, Colm Tóibin International Short Story Award 2020
- Ribeye, Longlisted, Alpine Fellowship Award 2020
- Cube, Longlisted, Colm Tóibin International Short Story Award 2019
- A Subway Incident, Monthly Winner, Hennessy New Writing Awards 1999
In 2020 Fergal’s award winning play Extremophiles received its world premiere in Copenhagen by the renown That Theatre Company. This was followed by the second play of his Location Trilogy when Rub-a-dub-dub premiered in early 2022, also in Copenhagen. The third play of the trilogy, Same Shit, Different Planet, will be produced in early 2023. These were all performed by renown English language producers, That Theatre Company.
His previous stage work has garnered multiple awards, including; A Dragon's Tale (Eamon Keane Award 2013), Folie-a-Deux (Listowel 2015) and Extremophiles (Eamon Keane Award 2018, Papatango 2018 and NEWvember Festival 2017), Rats With Bushy Tails (Billy Roche Short Play Award 2022). He has also written several radio plays aired by Ireland’s national broadcaster, RTE.
Award winning movie credits include Eyes Wide Open (2017 Silver Screen Award Nevada, Miami, Berlin Festivals) Ribeye (2016 PAGE International Screenwriting Awards), Bio (2016 Miami, Los Angeles, Antwerp and Dublin Film Festivals) and Glass Ceiling (2014 PAGE International Screenwriting Awards). He was a collaborator with the late Liam O’Neill (RIP) on many projects.
Season 1 of his sitcom Hipsterverse is being aired on PCEN across North America and TikTok globally. Season 2 of Hipsterverse is in pre-production. Another sitcom is slated for production in Denmark in 2022. Season one of his sitcom GIFT* is currently being developed with a Danish production company.
Extremophiles Budget: $100K - $1M | Thriller ⋄ Sci-fi Possibly the last humans stranded in an Antarctic Research base - can they save the species against the odds.