Fiction writer
The Eskimo in the Net (Marion Boyars Publishers, May 2003) shortlisted for The Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award 2004. “Daily Express Saturday, December 27 2003 - OUR PICK OF A BUMPER YEAR By far the most memorable novel of the year for me was Gerard Beirne's wonderful The Eskimo in the Net (Marion Boyars ). Nothing else I read in 2003 began with a better opening sentence. "Everything started to go wrong the day we dragged the Eskimo up in the net off Malin Head." …Wonderful clear prose and sensitive observation in a tough environment make this an outstanding debut work, scandalously ignored by this year's Man Booker judges." - Graham Ball (Literary Editor of the Daily Express).
His most recent novel Turtle was published by Oberon Press, Ottawa, 2009. “ (a) wonderful novel...like, say, Cormac McCarthy, Beirne is rigorously dedicated to this style. He never backs off or makes it easier for a reader. In time the rhythm gets under your skin - in a good way, as Irvine Welsh's style does for those who appreciate it - and in this way becomes linked to the joy you'll derive from this book.” - Craig Davidson, Here magazine
Author of cult short story Sightings of Bono (adapted into a short film in 2000 featuring Bono of U2) & released on DVD in 2004- published as a Paprika short (Avvi Stando Bono,) by Scritturapura Editore, Italy.