Hugh O'Donnell was born in Dublin in 1947. He spent twenty-six years working in financial markets, and in 1978 set up the first new stockbroking company in Dublin for over fifty years. He has also worked as an actor and performed his own one-man shows in the Edinburgh and Dublin theatre festivals. In 1989 he founded a new Dublin theatre, Andrews Lane, in the city centre. He has written a number of film scripts for Jim Sheridan's production company, for Universal Studios and for various independent producers. 11 Emerald Street is his first novel.