Peter Cunningham is a member of Aosdána and lives mostly in County Kildare, Ireland, although he can also often be found on the sea cliffs of his home county.
Peter was born in Waterford, Ireland, and has at various points in his life worked as a journalist, a kitchen porter, a clerk on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, an accountant, a commodities trader, a barge painter, a newspaper columnist and a sheep farmer. He went to school in Waterpark College, Waterford and in Glenstal Abbey School, County Limerick. He studied English and economics in University College Dublin and began writing short stories in his teens.
He is best known as the author of the Monument novels. Set in the fictional landscape of Peter’s native city and surrounding countryside, these stories are about Irish people and their lives and loves from the late 19th century to the present day. The novels have been widely acclaimed, in Ireland, the UK and US, and in translation.
A new novel, Capital Sins, a darkly satirical novel set during the collapse of the Celtic Tiger, was released in June 2010.
