Portrait of Emma Donoghue

Birthday profile

Emma Donoghue

Emma Donoghue, Irish-Canadian author

Born
October 24, 1969
Age in 2026
57
Zodiac sign
Scorpio
Birth year
1969

About Emma Donoghue

Emma Donoghue (born October 1969) is an Irish Canadian novelist, screenwriter, playwright and literary historian. Her 2010 novel Room was a finalist for the Booker Prize and an international best-seller. Donoghue's 1995 novel Hood won the Stonewall Book Award and Slammerkin (2000) won the Ferro-Grumley Award for Lesbian Fiction. She is a 2011 recipient of the Alex Awards. Room was adapted by Donoghue into a film of the same name. For this, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. In 2025, Donoghue won the Alice B Readers Award given annually to living writers of published works whose careers are distinguished by consistently well-written works about lesbians. == Background == Donoghue was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1969. The youngest of eight children, she is the daughter of Frances (née Rutledge) and academic and literary critic Denis Donoghue. She has a first-class honours Bachelor of Arts degree from University College Dublin (in English and French) and a PhD in English from Girton College, Cambridge.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

Emma Donoghue timeline

  1. Donoghue's 1995 novel Hood won the Stonewall Book Award and Slammerkin (2000) won the Ferro-Grumley Award for Lesbian Fiction.
  2. They moved permanently to Canada in 1998 and Donoghue became a Canadian citizen in 2004.
  3. In 2025, Donoghue won the coveted Alice B Readers Award given annually to living writers of published works whose careers are distinguished by consistently well-written works about lesbians.

The world when Emma Donoghue was born

Emma Donoghue was born in 1969. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1969

  • #1 song"Sugar, Sugar" – The Archies
  • Top movieMidnight Cowboy
  • Top TV showRowan & Martin's Laugh-In
  • Best-selling bookThe Godfather – Mario Puzo

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentNew York Mets "Miracle Mets" win the World Series
  • Top headlineNeil Armstrong walks on the Moon: "One small step for man"
  • Technology milestoneApollo 11 — first humans walk on the Moon
  • Defining fadWoodstock festival
  • Notable inventionARPANET (precursor to the internet)
  • World population3.63 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderRichard Nixon
  • Sports championNew York Mets (World Series)
  • Also wonBoston Celtics (NBA)
  • U.S. population202.7M

1969 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Emma Donoghue's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19692026
Gas$0.35$3.45/gal
Average home$16,400$435,000
Average income$10,900$67,500
Minimum wage$1.60$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$1.42$11.95
Postage stamp$0.06$0.73
Population202.7M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.