Rock band U2 met the Irish author, Christopher Nolan, when he enrolled at their school. He made such an impression on them that they later wrote the song ‘Miracle Drug’, from the album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, about him.

‘We all went to the same school and just as we were leaving, a fellow called Christopher Nolan arrived. He had been deprived of oxygen for two hours when he was born, so he was paraplegic. But his mother believed he could understand what was going on and used to teach him at home.

'Eventually, they discovered a drug that allowed him to move one muscle in his neck. So they attached this unicorn device to his forehead and he learned to type. And out of him came all these poems that he'd been storing up in his head. Then he put out a collection called Dam-Burst of Dreams, which won a load of awards and he went off to university and became a genius. All because of a mother's love and a medical breakthrough.’  Bono

Christopher Nolan was deprived of oxygen at birth. This caused brain damage that left him unable to talk, walk or use his hands. His mother, however, was convinced he knew what was going on around him. With passionate dedication she taught him at home. Eventually, they discovered a drug that allowed him to move one muscle in his neck. It was sufficient to operate a unicorn device attached to his forehead and learn to type.
   
His first book of poetry, Dam-Burst of Dreams, was published when he was fourteen-years-old. His autobiography, Under the Eye of the Clock, came out seven years later and won the Whitbread Award. His first novel, The Banyan Tree, was published in 2000. Nolan has never spoken or signed a word in his life. This silence is most ironic since he is a literary genius whose poetry has been compared to that of Joyce, Keats, and Yeats. His acceptance speech for the Whitbread was read by his mother. In it he said, ‘I want to shout with joy. My heart is full of gratitude.’

The first words Christopher Nolan typed were, ‘I bet you never thought you would be hearing from me! …To think that I would be able to write to you was beyond my wildest dreams.’ He later wrote, ‘Wearing a pointer attached to a band around my head I had to fight a rebellious, spasm-ridden body for expression through the typing of every single letter. My mind was alive with creativity, but sadly the vessel had no outlet. Imagine then the absolute joy of discovering a leak through which I could slowly squeeze out a sample of my poetic musings.