Sally Rooney

I think Sally Rooney has such a distinct way of capturing exactly how it feels to be a young person today, navigating class, intimacy, and all the complicated politics of our time. She was born in Castlebar, County Mayo, and studied at Trinity College Dublin, which really shows in the academic and artistic environments she often sets her stories in. She exploded onto the scene with her debut Conversations with Friends, but she became a global phenomenon with Normal People, which honestly just felt like a cultural moment. Her books are famous for this really stripped-back, minimalist style that somehow manages to feel incredibly deep and emotionally raw. She currently lives in Dublin.