Hugo Hamilton was born and grew up in Dublin. He is the author of five highly acclaimed novels: 'Surrogate City', ‘Last Shot' and 'The Love Test', 'Headbanger' and 'Sad Bastard' ; one collection of short stories; and the highly successful memoir ‘The Speckled People’. He has worked as a writer-in-residence at many leading universities, including most recently at Trinity College, Dublin. He has just returned to Ireland from a DAAD scholarship in Berlin.