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ANN HENNING JOCELYN

Ann Henning Jocelyn grew up in her native Sweden and finished her education in England. She had an early playwright debut in Sweden while completing a degree in Drama, Art History and English. After two years at drama school Studio 68 in London, she worked as assistant to legendary director Charles Marowitz and appeared in a number of productions at his Open Space Theatre in London.

Naturally bi-lingual, she subsequently went on to translate plays, films and books, working with authors such as Ruth Rendell, Kazuo Ishiguro and Joanna Trollope. She also spent the best part of a year collaborating with film star Ingrid Bergman on the autobiography My Life. She became the Chairman of the Translators’ Association in England and served several terms on the Society of Authors’ Committee of Management. In Ireland, she was on the board of the Society of Playwrights.

Since the mid 1980s, after marrying fellow-author the Earl of Roden, she has been based mainly in the West of Ireland, where her home Doonreagan has provided the inspiration to write eight books and three more stage plays. Her interest in horses soon brought her into close contact with the people of Connemara, and her Connemara Whirlwind Trilogy, featuring her own stallion Cuaifeach, hit the bestseller list in 1990. Still selling in Irish bookshops, the trilogy is well established as a classic and remains a popular exam project in Irish schools. It represents Ireland in the UNESCO International Youth Library.

Ann Henning Jocelyn always kept up her ties with the theatre: in 1996 she was appointed Artistic Director of the International Women Playwrights’ Conference at University College Galway, and the following year she became writer-in-residence of the newly founded Connemara Theatre Co., which produced her plays Baptism of Fire, The Alternative and Becoming The Tree. Baptism of Fire travelled as far as Pernik, Bulgaria, and The Alternative was seen around Ireland and at the Belfast Fringe Festival. For many years she was an adjudicator of The O.Z. Whitehead national playwriting competition. Her more recent translations into English of internationally renowned playwrights like the Norwegian Jon Fosse and Swedish Henning Mankell have won much acclaim.

In Sweden and Ireland, she is also well known for her career as a broadcaster, writing and presenting her own material. Keylines and Keylines for Living, compilations of her inspirational ‘thoughts for the day’, broadcast regularly in both countries, have been published in nine countries to date, including India and China. Extracts have appeared in numerous anthologies.

Her play Doonreagan, about Ted Hughes and his lover Assia Wevill has been performed at Jermyn Street Theatre and ADC Theatre in September/October 2013.