Sheila O'Flanagan is a successful journalist and author from Dublin, Ireland. She is well-known for her book, "All For You," which won the 2011 Irish Popular Fiction Book of the Year Award. O'Flanagan's love for reading and storytelling started at a young age, and she always dreamed of working with books and literature. However, her career took a different turn when she ended up working in finance after graduation. Despite this, she never lost her passion for writing and eventually realized her dream of becoming a full-time writer in her thirties.
O'Flanagan's writing career began with a slow start, as she had to write several books before getting offered a publishing deal. However, she persisted and eventually got a contract with an advance from another publisher, allowing her to quit her job in finance and focus on writing. She now writes business columns for the Irish Times and has written over 25 novels, three collections of short stories, and two novels for children. Her books have been bestsellers in Ireland and overseas, with sales topping 9 million copies worldwide.
In her writing, O'Flanagan aims to tell a good story, make the reader feel like they know the characters, and improve with each book she writes. She writes for people who have busy lives and enjoy escaping into someone else's story. O'Flanagan is passionate about increasing literacy and has taken part in several televised projects to help people who struggle with reading and writing. She is also a board member of Fighting Words, a creative writing center set up by Booker prize-winner Roddy Doyle, where she works with teenagers and retired people to help them write their own stories and memoirs.