J.G. Farrell was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1940, and studied at University College, Dublin, and the London School of Economics. Her first novel, The Siege of Krishnadevam (1977), won the Whitbread Prize for Best First Novel, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and the Somerset Maugham Award. In 1995 she won the Booker Prize for her novel The Cave of Letters
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In 1992 she was awarded an honorary degree by University College Dublin. She has been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature since 2005, and was appointed Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2013. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy.
In 2014 she was awarded a CBE by Queen Elizabeth II for her services to literature.