John Patrick McHugh is from Galway. His short stories have appeared in Granta, The Stinging Fly, The Tangerine and Winter Papers, and his non-fiction has appeared in Winter Papers, Irish Times, The Stinging Fly and on BBC Radio 3. Pure Gold, his debut short story collection, was published in 2021 by New Island Books in Ireland and Fourth Estate in the UK, and his debut novel, Fun and Games, was published in 2025 by Fourth Estate. He holds degrees in creative writing from UCD and the University of East Anglia. In 2022 he received a Next Generation Award from the Arts Council and he was the Arts Council Writer in Residence in Galway University for 2024.