Blanaid Salkeld was born in Chittagone, India (now Pakistan), where her father was a friend of Rabindranath Tagore, and grew up in Ireland. She returned to India with her husband in 1902, and spent a further six years there. On her husband’s death in 1909, she she returned to Ireland and joined the Abbey Theatre. […]
Eva Salzman grew up in Brooklyn and on Long Island, USA. Her collections are The English Earthquake (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK, Bloodaxe, 1992), which was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation; Bargain With The Watchman (Oxford, UK, Oxford University Press, 1997), which won a Special Commendation; and Double Crossing: New & Selected Poems (Bloodaxe, 2004). Among her awards […]
Jack Scoltock was born in Derry in 1942. His novels for children are Quest Of The Royal Twins (Dublin, Wolfhound Press, 1988); Rumble In The Jungle (Wolfhound Press, 1989); Badger Beano And The Magic Mushroom (Wolfhound Press, 1990); Jeremy’s Adventure (Wolfhound Press, 1991); The Magic Sword (Wolfhound Press, 1992); Seek The Enchanted Antlers (Wolfhound Press, […]
Maurice Scully was born in Dublin in 1952. From 1981 – 2006 he was engaged on a single project, the 8-book Things That Happen, currently available in 4 vols as 5 Freedoms of Movement (Devon, etruscan books); Livelihood (Wicklow, Wild Honey Press); Sonata (London, Reality Street Editions); and Tig (Exeter, Shearsman Books). A selection of […]
John W. Sexton was born in London, of Irish parents, in 1958. He is the author of one collection, The Prince’s Brief Career (Cairn Mountain Publishing, 1995). He has published two children’s novels, The Johnny Coffin Diaries & Johnny Coffin School-Dazed (The O’Brien Press). He has also recorded an album with legendary Stranglers front man, […]
George Bernard Shaw was born in 1856 at 33 Synge Street, Dublin. His place of birth is now a museum in his honour. His novels include Immaturity (composed and serialized, 1879, published 1931, cf below); The Irrational Knot (serialized in Our Corner between April, 1885, and February, 1887.cf below); Love Among the Artists (serialized, 1887-1888, […]
Lorna Shaughnessy was born in Belfast. Her poetry collections are Torching The Brown River (Cliffs of Moher, Salmon Poetry, 2008); and The Witness Tree (Salmon Poetry, 2011) She has published two translations of contemporary Mexican poetry, Mother Tongue: Selected Poems by Pura López Colomé (Galway, Arlen House, 2007); and If We Have Lost our Oldest […]
Eileen Sheehan was born in Scartaglin, Co Kerry, in 1963. Her poetry is collected as Song of the Midnight Fox (Tralee, Doghouse, 2004); and Down the Sunlit Hall (Doghouse, 2008). She is the winner of Listowel Writers’ Week inaugural Poetry Slam 2004, and The Brendan Kennelly Poetry Award 2006. She lives in Killarney. Eileen Sheehan […]
Kathleen Sheehan O’Connor was born in Waterford. Her novels are Silver Harvest (Cork, Emperor Publishing, 1992); Hold Back the Tide (Emperor, 1994); The Son of a Nobody (Dublin, Attic Press, 1995); By Shannon’s Way (Dingle, Mount Eagle, 1999); Different Kinds of Loving (2000, Mount Eagle). She lives in Dublin. Kathleen Sheehan O’Connor’s website
Ronan Sheehan was born in Dublin in 1953. His novels are Tennis Players (Dublin, Co-Op Books, 1977); and Foley’s Asia (Dublin, The Lilliput Press, 1999). His volume of short stories is Boy with an injured eye (Dingle, Brandon Books, 1983). He has won a Hennessy Literary Award for short stories; The Rooney Award, 1983; and […]
Eamonn Sheridan was born Dublin 1938. His memoir is Me Father was a Hero and Me Mother is a Saint (New York, Strategic Book Group, 2011). He lives in Enniscorthy Co. Wexford.
Jim Sheridan was born in Dublin in 1949. He is best known as a film director but his early work was in the theatre. His plays are Journal of a Hole ([co-author Neil Jordan] Dublin, Project Arts Centre, 1971); Women at Work([co-author Peter Sheridan] Team Educational Company, 1976); Mobile Homes (Project Arts Centre, 1976); Where […]
John Desmond Sheridan (John D. Sheridan) was born in 1903. His novels include Vanishing Spring (Dublin, The Talbot Press/London: Rich ∓ Cowan, 1934); Paradise Alley (The Talbot Press, 1945); and The Magnificent MacDarney (The Talbot Press, 1949). His short fiction includes The Right Time (The Talbot Press, 1951/London, Dent 1952). His poetry includes Joe’ No […]
Peter Sheridan was born in Dublin in 1952. His plays include Paint it Black (Project Theatre, 1971); No Entry (Dublin, Project Arts Centre, 1976); Women at Work([co-author Jim Sheridan] Team Educational Company, 1976); The Liberty Suit ([co-authorGerard Mannix Flynn ] Dublin, Olympia Theatre, 1977/published Dublin, Co-op Books, 1980); Emigrants (Clifden Labour Club, Blackpool, UK; The […]
James Simmons was born in Derry in 1933 and educated at Campbell College, Belfast, and at Leeds University. He taught in Northern Ireland and for three years in the sixties at Ahmadu Bellow University, Nigeria. On his return he lectured in drama and Anglo-Irish literature and the New University of Ulster, and founded and edited […]
Peter Sirr was born in Waterford in 1960. In 1982 he won the Patrick Kavanagh Award and in 1983 the poetry prize at Listowel Writers’ Week. His collections of poetry are Marginal Zones (Loughcrew, Co Meath, The Gallery Press,1984); Talk, Talk (The Gallery Press, 1987); Ways of Falling (The Gallery Press, 1991); The Ledger of […]
Knute Skinner was born in 1929 in St. Louis, USA. His collections include Stranger with a Watch (Francestown, NH, The Golden Quill Press, 1965); A Close Sky over Killaspuglonane (Dublin, Dolmen Press, 1968; 2nd edition: St. Louis, Burton International, 1975); Hearing of the Hard Times (Stafford, VA, Northwoods Press, 1981); Selected Poems (Isle of Skye, […]
Jo Slade studied Art and Design at the Limerick and National Colleges of Art and Design and exhibits her paintings widely. Her collections are In Fields I Hear Them Sing (Galway, Salmon Poetry, 1989); The Vigilant One (Salmon Poetry, 1994), which was nominated for The Irish Times/Aer Lingus Literature Prize; Certain Octobers (Quimpeir, France, Editions […]
Michael Smith was born in Dublin in 1942. He founded New Writers’ Press in 1967, which published Thomas McGreevey, Denis Devlin, Brian Coffey, and other neglected modernist poets, as well as numerous younger poets. He was also a founder and editor of the literary magazine The Lace Curtain. His own collections are With the Woodnymphs […]
Paul Smith was born in Dublin on October 4, either in 1920 or 1925. He lived abroad for many years, in Canada, where he worked in radio, the UK, Australia, and Sweden, and where he lectured in Uppsala University. In Ireland he worked as a costume maker and designer in the Abbey and Gate Theatres […]
Sydney Bernard Smith was born in Glasgow in 1936 and raised in Portstewart, Co Derry. His work has been broadcast on RTÉ, BBC and Channel 4 (UK), and staged in Ireland, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and in the US. His poetry collections include Girl With Violin (The Dolmen Press [Poetry Ireland Editions 3], Dublin […]
Cherry Smyth was born in Ballymoney, County Antrim and grew up in Portstewart, Co Derry. Her poetry collections are When the Lights Go (Belfast, Lagan Press, 2001); and One Wanted Thing (Lagan Press, 2006). Her anthology of women prisoners’ writing, A Strong Voice in a Small Space, (Cherry Picking Press, 2002), won the Raymond Williams […]
Gerard Smyth was born in Dublin in 1951. He published a chapbook, The Flags are Quiet (Dublin, New Writers’ Press, 1969), in an edition of 90 copies. His full collections are World Without End (Dublin, New Writers Press, 1977); Loss and Gain (Raven Arts Press, 1981); Painting the Pink Roses Black (Dublin, Dedalus, 1986); Daytime […]
Damian Smyth was born in Downpatrick, Co Down, in 1962. His poetry collections are Downpatrick Races (Belfast, Lagan Press, 2000); The Down Recorder (Belfast, Lagan Press, 2004); Lamentations (Belfast, Lagan Press, 2010); Market Street (Belfast, Lagan Press, 2010); Apparitions: A Hurricane (Derby, Templar Poetry, booklet, 2012); and Mesopotamia (Derby, Templar Poetry, 2014). Recent anthologies in […]
Dermot Somers was born in Roscommon, in 1947. His short story collections are Mountains And Other Ghosts (London, Diadem Books, 1990); At The Rising of the Moon (London, Bàton Wicks/Cork, Collins Press, 1994), which won the The Boardman Tasker Prize and the Culture and Environment Award, Banff Mountain Books Festival, 1994; Rince ar na Ballaí […]
Jane Francesca Wilde, also known as Speranza, was born Jane Frances Agnes Elgee, in Dublin, probably in 1821. She witnessed the funeral of Thomas Davis in 1845 and subsequently read his poetry, which awakened her to Irish nationalism. Her grandfather, Archdeacon Elgee, rector of Wexford, was so popular that he was left in peace by […]
Eddie Stack was born in Ennistymon, Co. Clare and emigrated to the United States in 1986. He settled in San Francisco and founded The Island, an Irish journal. His short story collections are The West (US, Island House, 1989/London, Bloomsbury, 1990); for which he received a Top 100 Irish American Award),and Out of the Blue […]
James Stern was born in Co Meath in 1904. He emigrated to South Africa and later to Frankfurt and New York. His books include The Heartless Land (London, MacMillan, 1932); Something Wrong (MacMillan); The Man who was Loved (MacMillan); The Stories of Jimmy Stern (MacMillan, 1968) and The Hidden Damage (London, The Chelsea Press, with […]
Laurence Sterne was born in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, in 1713. His father was an English officer, and his birth there was coincident with this fact. The family returned to England when the regiment was disbanded, but within ten months the regiment was reformed and the family returned to Dublin. Laurence was sent from Ireland to […]
James Stephens was born in Dublin in 1882. In his early years he was a solicitor’s clerk, and later Registrar of the National Gallery of Ireland. Amongst his many literary friends was James Joyce, who, partly because they shared a birth year, suggested that Stephens finish Finnegans Wake should Joyce himself fail. His poetry collections […]
Lisa Steppe was born in Germany and moved to Ireland in 1984. Her publications in German are, as Elisabeth Steppe, die kasematte (Schwabenverlag, Ruit bein Stuttgart, 1971); and as Lisa Steppe, Island (Berlin, edition weltkultur, 1980). Her stories and poems have been published widely in English. Her poetry collection in English is When the Wheat […]
Abraham ‘Bram’ Stoker was born in Marino Crescent in Clontarf, Dublin, in 1847. Stoker married Oscar Wilde’s former sweetheart Florence Balcombe in 1878 and moved with her to London where he became business manager of Henry Irving’s Lyceum Theatre. His first horror writing, The Chain Of Destiny, appeared as a serial in the Shamrock magazine […]
Eithne Strong was born in Limerick in 1925. Her poetry includes Cirt Oibre (Coiscéim, 1980); Fuill agus Fallaí (Coiscéim, 1983); Aoife fe Ghlas (Coiscéim, 1990); An Sagart Pinc (Coiscéim, 1990); Poetry Quartos (Dublin, Runa Press, 1943-45); Songs of Living (Runa Press, 1961); Sarah in Passing (Dublin, The Dolmen Press, 1974); Flesh – The Greatest Sin […]
Francis Stuart was born in Australia in 1902. His plays include Men Crowd me Round (1933); and Strange Guest (1940). His short prose was collected in States of Mind (Dublin,Raven Arts Press, 1983). His poetry includes We Have Kept the Faith (Dublin, Oak,1933), reprinted by The Raven Arts Press; Night Pilot (Raven Arts Press, 1988); […]
Breda Sullivan was born in Athlone in 1945. Her collections are A Smell of Camphor (Galway, Salmon Poetry, 1992); After the Ball (The Cliffs of Moher, Salmon Poetry, 1998); and Sculpture in Black Ice (Salmon Poetry, 2004). She has won numerous awards for her poety, including that of the Kerry International Summer School (1995); Boyle […]
Eamonn Sweeney was born in Sligo in 1968. His novels are Waiting for the Healer (London, Picador, 1998); and The Photograph (Picador, 2000). His books on sport include There’s Only One Red Army (Dublin, New Island Books, 1997);Munster Hurling Legends (Dublin, O’Brien Press, 2002); The Road to Croker (Dublin, Hodder Headline Ireland, 2004); and O’Brien […]
Matthew Sweeney was born in Co Donegal in 1952. His poetry collections include A Dream of Maps (Dublin, Raven Arts Press, 1981); A Round House (London, Alison & Busby/ Raven, 1983); The Lame Waltzer (Allison & Busby,1985); Blue Shoes (Secker & Warburg,1989); Cacti (Secker & Warburg 1989); The Bridal Suite (London, Jonathan Cape, 1997); A […]
Jonathan Swift was born on the 30 November 1667, at 7 Hoey’s Court, Dublin. His father, according to the Cabinet of Irish Literature, was a full cousin of the poet Dryden. His mother moved back to her home in England after her husband’s death, but Swift stayed in Dublin with an uncle, entering Kilkenny Grammar […]
John Millington Synge was born in 1871 in Rathfarnham, Dublin. He studied music in Germany and lived in Paris, where he wrote literary criticism, and where he met WB Yeats, who famously persuaded him to live in the Aran Islands before returning to Dublin. He spent five summers there, and perfected his Irish. He also […]
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