Conor Montague is an Irish writer working in London. He grew up in Galway, on the west coast of Ireland. Conor was coordinator for the creative writing programme at The City Literary Institute (City LIt), Covent Garden, from September 2013 to September 2017, at which stage he resigned to focus on his own work. Previous to this Conor worked as a nightclub manager, bin man, music promoter, builder, adventure travel coordinator, academic, bare knuckle boxer, dive master, marijuana grower, magazine editor, sports coach, security consultant, researcher and DJ, spending time in East Africa, North Africa, South East Asia, India, Nepal, South America, the Caribbean, Australia, the US and mainland Europe in the process.
Stage/Screen
Grace: a 10 X 1HR drama series inspired by the remarkable true story of Grace O’Malley (Grainne Mhaol), a 16th Century Irish Chieftain who fought clan and crown for forty years to protect her people and preserve their way of life.
Who Needs Enemies: a series of comedic plays from 2009-2012 which sold out at the Vodafone Comedy Carnival and led to the formation of Vagabond Productions.
Conor adapted Who Needs Enemies for television, a 6 X 1Hr comic drama series. The pilot episode, ‘Houdini’s Great Escape’ was shot on location in Galway in January 2012.
Who Needs Enemies: Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIiaNST4EGc
The Butcher Molloy: premieres at the Galway Theatre Festival, October 2012, selling out three nights at Town Hall Theatre.
The Butcher Molloy was adapted for radio in 2013, with funding of €10,000 from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland
The Butcher Molloy sold out two nights at the ICC Theatre, Hammersmith in December 2017.
Cursed by Good Intentions: premiered at the Vodafone Comedy Carnival, Galway in October 2017.
Chasing Reindeer: longlisted for the Billy Roache International Playwriting Award 2019.
Killing Donald: produced as part of the Lost Theatre One Act Festival at Stockwell Playhouse in June 2019. It was highly commended by festival adjudicator, Paul Vale (The Stage) who wrote, ‘Conor Montague’s tightly crafted drama sets a benchmark in creating stimulating, almost filmic, drama for the stage.’
Starkers: Feature length screen biopic.
Commissioned by Hot Cod Productions. A feature-length biopic of prolific Liverpudlian streaker, Mark Roberts. The script will be delivered on 30 November 2020.
Coronamona: from April to November 2020, Conor wrote and created Coronamona, the world’s first drama series shot entirely on Zoom. The series, produced and directed by John O’Dowd, has been widely acclaimed and is available to view on the Vagabond Productions YouTube Channel.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNrymZCD76otPyJXjWjNEcf7ZvAjyZM7K
Conor is also a prize-winning author of fiction, and has been placed/shortlisted in numerous competitions, most recently with: Flash 500, Reflex Fiction, TSS 400 Flash Fiction Competition, Ad Hoc Fiction, London Independent Story Prize, The Writer’s Bureau Short Story Competition 2019, Limnisa Short Story Competition 2019, Bray Literary Festival Flash Fiction Comp. The Bridport Prize 2019, The Fish Prize for Flash Fiction 2019, Strands International Prize for Flash Fiction 2020 and The V.S. Pritchett Short Story Award 2020 (RSL). His debut collection of short fiction, Capital Vices, will be published by Reflex Press in April 2021.