Cecelia Ahern - Writer of Magical Fiction

Cecelia was born in Dublin, Ireland on September 30th, 1981. She is the daughter of former Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern. Before becoming a novelist, Cecelia completed a degree in Journalism and Media Communications from Griffith College in Dublin.

At the age of 21, Cecelia wrote her first novel, PS, I Love You, which was published in January 2004, and sold to over 40 countries. The book was one of the largest-selling debut novels of 2004 and reached number one in several countries. Cecelia was nominated for Best Newcomer 2004/2005 at the British Book Awards, and PS, I Love You made the shortlist for the Irish Book of the Decade as well as the long-list for The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. The novel was made into a motion picture by Warner Bros and Wendy Finerman Productions and stars Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler, Lisa Kudrow, Kathy Bates, Harry Connick Jr, Gina Gershon, James Marsters and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. It came out in theatres in North America on December 21st, 2007 and was released on DVD May 6th, 2008.

For her second book, Where Rainbows End, Cecelia won the 2005 Irish Post Award for Literature, and a 2005 Corine Award, which was voted by German readers. In May 2007 Cosmopolitan U.S. honoured her with a Fun Fearless Fiction Award 2007 for her third book, If You Could See Me Now, and in 2008, she was voted Author of Year in the Glamour Women of the Year Awards.

Cecelia's short stories can be found in Irish Girls are Back in Town, Short and Sweet, Moments, Ladies Night 4, and Girls Night in 2. She has also written a novella titled Mrs. Whippy, which was turned into a one-woman play in 2008 and continues to tour around Ireland. Cecelia's other published short stories include The Production Line for Express Magazine, Every Year for Harrod's Magazine, The Things That I Remember for Woman's Own, Remembering Mum for Express Magazine, and Mallard and May for Woman and Home.

Be aware that with many of Cecelia's books, the same books have different titles - the UK title and the American title. I found this out after reading Where Rainbows End, then picking up Dear Rosie, thinking it was a different book, only to find out it was the same book just with a different title.

PS I Love You (2004)
Where Rainbows End (US titles: Rosie Dunne and Love, Rosie) (2004)
If You Could See Me Now (US title: A Silver Lining) (2005)
A Place Called Here (US title: There's No Place Like Here (2006)
Thanks for the Memories (2008)
The Gift (2009)
The Book of Tomorrow (2009)
The Time of my Life (2011)

Along with Donald Todd, Cecelia was co-creator of the half-hour comedy Samantha Who? which ran for 2 seasons on ABC. The show starred Christina Applegate, Jean Smart, Jennifer Esposito, Barry Watson, Kevin Dunn, Melissa McCarthy and Tim Russ, and was about Sam Newly, the victim of a hit-and-run accident who awakes from a coma with retrograde amnesia (meaning she could function normally but had no personal memories). She can't remember her friends, family, job or life, and comes to find out that she wasn't exactly the nicest person before her accident. In fact, she was vain, selfish, and her actions were often morally questionable, leaving her with many enemies. She has small flashes of who she used to be and tries hard to take this opportunity of basically being a clean slate and start over by changing her life for the better.

The show was really cute and funny, and I was disappointed when it ended after just two seasons.