Stephen Donnelly was born on March 23, 1970 in Bethlehem, NY.   At the age of 17 he dropped out of high school and left New York for Florida, where he continued his life-long interest of encountering unique people and events.  A lifetime reader, Stephen didn’t begin to write seriously until 22, when he had a life changing experience while standing in line at a local drug store and had the uncontrollable urge to purchase a notebook on the counter. 
        He crossed the country several times, dabbling in drugs and crime, while living in places like Colorado Springs, San Francisco, Charleston and Los Angeles.  Travel to Dublin birthed several short stories and the movie script, ‘Bye Bye Johnny Cake’.  Later, in Paris, while writing essays for the translator Aline Azoulay, he penned the first draft of a story that would ultimately become the beginning chapter of ‘Blinking at the Idiot Sky’.  He supported his traveling and drug use with a variety of jobs including painting, furniture moving, construction and catering.  Returning to NY he made the short film of a story he wrote called ‘The Steam Engine’.  After a lengthy pre-production of ‘Bye Bye Johnny Cake’ the production fell apart almost immediately and the writing of ‘Blinking at the Idiot Sky’ continued in the vacuum.  This was at roughly the same time as Donnelly’s increasing dalliance with heroin. 
        Drawing heavily on the mode of creation a la ‘Naked Lunch’ the ‘Blinking at the Idiot Sky’ manuscript continued along with the very intentional drive toward addiction; both progressed at about the same rate, which is to say, slowly.  At the time of his eventual arrest, some 4 years later, and the subsequent court mandated rehab, ‘Blinking at the Idiot Sky’ was almost 300 pages in length.  After and during another 3 years of on and off recovery the book was finally finished, in William Faulkner’s hometown, at a length of about 450 pages.  Stephen Donnelly has been clean for over 4 years.