Early career Rooney completed her first novel—which she has called "absolute trash"—at age 15. Her first published works were two poems in
The Stinging Fly, submitted to the magazine when she was in secondary school. She began writing "constantly" in late 2014. She completed her debut novel,
Conversations with Friends, while studying for her master's degree in American literature. She wrote 100,000 words of the book in three months.
Conversations with Friends (2017) Rooney signed with Bohan and the Wylie Agency, and
Conversations with Friends was subject to a seven-party auction for its publishing rights, which were eventually sold in 12 countries. and the 2018
Folio Prize, and won the 2017 Sunday Times/Peters Fraser & Dunlop Young Writer of the Year Award. In March 2017, her short story "Mr Salary" was shortlisted for the
Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award. In November 2017, Rooney was announced as editor of the Irish literary magazine
The Stinging Fly. She was a contributing writer to the magazine. She oversaw the magazine's two issues in 2018, before handing the editorship over to Danny Denton. She remains a contributing editor to the magazine. In 2018, Rooney was announced as taking part in the
Cúirt International Festival of Literature.
Normal People (2018) Rooney's second novel,
Normal People, was published in September 2018, also by Faber & Faber. The novel grew out of Rooney's exploration of the history between the two main characters of her short story "At the Clinic", which was first published in London-based literary magazine
The White Review in 2016. In July 2018,
Normal People was longlisted for that year's
Man Booker Prize. On 27 November 2018, the work won "Irish Novel of the Year" at the
Irish Book Awards and was named
Waterstones' Book of the Year for 2018. In January 2019, it won the
Costa Book Award (formerly the Whitbread) for the Novel category. It was longlisted for the 2019
Dylan Thomas Prize and the 2019
Women's Prize for Fiction. It has been translated into 46 languages and earned praise from
Barack Obama and
Taylor Swift, among others. The series was directed by Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie Macdonald.
Daisy Edgar-Jones and
Paul Mescal played Marianne and Connell, respectively. The series was a critical success and earned four
Primetime Emmy Award nominations including for
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie,
Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, and
Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series. In May 2022, the novel
Conversations with Friends was also made into a 12-episode
BBC Three/
Hulu miniseries, with the same creative team behind
Normal People. Director
Lenny Abrahamson and co-writer
Alice Birch worked on this adaptation, too.
Beautiful World, Where Are You (2021) In April 2019, the
New York Public Library's Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers announced its 2019 class of fellows, which included Rooney. The press release stated, "she will be writing a new novel under the working title
Beautiful World, Where Are You, examining
aesthetics and political crisis." The novel was published by
Farrar, Straus and Giroux in the United States and by Faber in the UK and Ireland in September 2021. She did not accept any options for a film adaptation.
Intermezzo (2024) Rooney's fourth novel,
Intermezzo, was released in September 2024. The novel focuses on the complicated relationship between two brothers dealing with grief after their father's death. Central themes include an exploration of complicated family dynamics and the expectations of romantic relationships.
Intermezzo won the 2025
Sky Arts Award for literature. Rooney did not accept the award in person, saying she had been advised against entering the United Kingdom because her support for
Palestine Action put her at risk of arrest. ==Political views==