Cecelia Ahern, Irish novelist known for her works like PS, I Love You (2004), Where Rainbows End (2004) and If You Could See Me Now (2005), is born in Dublin on September 30, 1981. She is now published in nearly fifty countries and has sold over 25 million copies of her novels worldwide. Two of her books have been adapted as major motion pictures. The short story collection Roar (2018) has been adapted as a series for Apple TV+.

Ahern and her books have won numerous awards, including the Irish Book Award for Popular Fiction for The Year I Met You (2014). She publishes several novels and contributes a number of short stories to various anthologies.

Ahern is the daughter of Bertie Ahern, former Taoiseach of Ireland, and Miriam Ahern. Her older sister, Georgina Ahern, is married to Nicky Byrne of Irish pop group Westlife. In 2000, she is part of the Irish pop group Shimma, who finishes third in the Irish national final for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Before starting her writing and producing career, Ahern obtains a degree in journalism and media communications from Griffith College Dublin, but withdraws from a master’s degree course to pursue her writing career.

In 2002, when Ahern is twenty-one, she writes her first novel, PS, I Love You. Published in 2004, it is the number 1 bestseller in Ireland (for 19 weeks), the United Kingdom, United States, Germany and the Netherlands. It is sold in over forty countries. The book is adapted as a motion picture directed by Richard LaGravenese and starring Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler. It is released in the United States on December 21, 2007.

Ahern’s second book, Where Rainbows End (known as Love, Rosie in the United States), also reaches number 1 in Ireland and the United Kingdom and wins the German Corine Literature Prize in 2005. It is adapted as a motion picture titled Love, Rosie which is released in 2014, directed by Christian Ditter and starring Lily Collins and Sam Claflin.

Ahern has contributed to charity books with the royalties from short stories such as Irish Girls are Back in Town and Ladies’ Night.

Ahern is the co-creator and producer of the ABC comedy Samantha Who? starring Christina Applegate, Jean Smart, Jennifer Esposito, Barry Watson, Kevin Dunn, Melissa McCarthy and Tim Russ.

Ahern’s book The Gift is published just before Christmas 2008 in the United Kingdom. Her following book, The Book of Tomorrow, is published on October 1, 2009. In 2016, she releases Flawed, her first book for young adults, and Lyrebird.

Ahern is nominated for Best Newcomer 2004/5 at the British Book Awards for her debut novel PS, I Love You. She wins the 2005 Irish Post Award for Literature and a 2005 Corine Literature Prize for her second book Where Rainbows End, which is voted for by German readers. In 2006, she is long listed for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for PS, I Love You. Cosmopolitan US honours her with a Fun Fearless Fiction Award 2007 for If You Could See Me Now. Irish Tatler awards her Writer of the Year at the Woman of the Year awards in 2009. Her fifth novel, Thanks for the Memories, is nominated for Most Popular Book in the British Book Awards 2008. She is voted Author of Year in the UK Glamour Awards in 2008.

Ahern marries David Keoghan in 2010. They have three children, two daughters and a son. As of 2015, they reside in Malahide in County Dublin. She had COVID-19 in early 2022, describing it as “kind of mild. I was lucky.”