Michael Feeney Callan

Michael Feeney Callan
Feeney Callan in New York City in June 2011.
Born	Michael Feeney Callan Drumcondra, Dublin, Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Education	Beneavin College, Dublin
Occupation	Novelist, poet
Years active	1977–present
Spouse(s)	Ree Ward Callan
Children	2
Website	Official website

Michael Feeney Callan is an Irish novelist and poet. An award winner for his short fiction, he joined BBC television drama as a story editor, and wrote screenplays for The Professionals, and for American television.

He wrote the template Irish police drama series, The Burke Enigma, starring Donal McCann, and Love Is, starring Gabriel Byrne, and went on to write and direct a number of television programmes, among them The Beach Boys Today, a film that marked the band's 30th anniversary. Callan has published several novels and has written biographies of Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins and Richard Harris. His biography of Robert Redford (Robert Redford: The Biography; Knopf, 2011) was chosen by the Sunday Times as one of its recommended Best Books of 2011. In 2013, he published his second volume of poetry, An Argument for Sin.

Callan was born to Michael Callan, an engineer, and Margaret (née Feeney) in Drumcondra, Dublin. After a spell resident in London, Callan settled in Dublin with his wife Ree and their two children. He frequently spends time at Châteauneuf de Grasse, where he paints and sculpts.

Callan started writing in his teens, publishing poetry in David Marcus' New Irish Writing. His first collection, Fifty Fingers (which includes his first poem, Barbara), was published in 2003. His second volume of poetry, An Argument for Sin, was published in 2013. Callan describes the work as "a memoir in poetry, much influenced by Yeats' A Vision and Poe's Eureka." The book comprises poems written between 2003 and 2013.

Callan won the Hennessy Literary Award for his short story, Baccy, and was anthologised in Best Irish Short Stories (Elek, London, 1978). Thereafter he diversified widely, publishing fiction and non-fiction.