Michael Magee is from Belfast. His debut novel, Close to Home was published by Hamish Hamilton (UK) and FSG (US). It won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the John McGahern Prize, and the Nero Award for Debut Fiction. It was also named Waterstones Irish Book of the Year. Magee was also shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards Newcomer of the Year 2023, and The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year. Close to Home was shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2023, the Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize, and the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award. It was also longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Diverse Book Awards. He is the inaugural Writing Fellow at the University of Notre Dame.