Angela Patten was born and grew up in Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin, and emigrated to the United States in 1977. Her poetry collections are Still Listening (Cliffs of Moher, Co Clare, Salmon Publishing, 1999); and Reliquaries (Salmon Publishing, 2007). Her most recent book is the memoir entitled High Tea at a Low Table: Stories from […]
Ciaran O’Driscoll was born in Kilkenny in 1943. His poetry collections include Gog and Magog (Galway, Salmon, 1987); The Poet and His Shadow (Dublin, Dedalus, 1990); Listening to Different Drummers (Dedalus, 1993); The Old Women of Magione (Dedalus, 1997); Moving On, Still There: New and Selected Poems (Dedalus, 2001); and Surreal Man (Brighton, UK, Pighog […]
Ivy Bannister was born in New York City in 1951. Her short story collection is Magician (Dublin, Poolbeg Press, 1996). Many other stories have been published and broadcast, including What Big Teeth, filmed as Forgetting Aphrodite (2004). Her memoir is Blunt Trauma: After the Fall of Flight 111 (Dublin, Ashfield Press, 2005). Her plays have […]
Leland Bardwell was born in India of Irish parents in 1922 and was brought to Ireland at the age of two. Her collections of poetry are The Mad Cyclist (Dublin, New Writers’ Press, 1970); The Fly and the Bedbug (Dublin, Beaver Row Press, 1984); Dostoevsky’s Grave, New and Selected Poems (Dublin, The Dedalus Press, 1991); […]
Brendan Behan (known in Irish as Breandán Ó Beacháin) was born in Dublin in 1923. He served in Borstal (juvenile prison) for his activities in the IRA, and his experiences formed the background for his most important work. His plays are The Quare Fellow (Dublin, The Pike Theatre, 1954/London, Theatre Royal, 1956[the famous production by […]
Pat Boran was born in Portlaoise in 1963. His poetry collections are The Unwound Clock (Dublin, The Dedalus Press, 1990), which won the Patrick Kavanagh Award; Familiar Things (Dedalus, 1993); The Shape of Water (Dedalus, 1996); As the Hand, the Glove (Dedalus, 2001); and New and Selected Poems, with an introduction by Dennis O’Driscoll (Cambridge, […]
Michael Corrigan was born in San Francisco in 1942. His books are a memoir, Confessions of a Shanty Irishman (New York, Publish America, 2002); The Irish Connection and Other Stories (Publish America, 2004); Byron (Virtualbookworm.com Publishing, 2005); The Filmmakers (Virtualbookworm.com Publishing, 2008); and A Year and a Day (Idaho University Press, 2008). He has also […]
Gerald Dawe was born in Belfast in 1952. His poetry collections are Sheltering Places (1978); The Lundys Letter (Loughcrew, The Gallery Press, 1987), for which he was awarded the Macauley Fellowship in Literature; Sunday School (The Gallery Press, 1991); Heart of Hearts (The Gallery Press, 1995); The Morning Train (The Gallery Press, 1999) Lake Geneva […]
Paddy Doyle was born in Wexford in 1951. His autobiography The God Squad was originated in Ireland by Raven Arts Press in 1989, and published by Corgi (London) in 1990. It was in the best-seller lists in Britain and Ireland for several weeks, and has been translated into Danish, German, Japanese and Slovenian, and is […]
Padraic Fallon was born in Wexford, Ireland, in 1946, the sixth and youngest son of the poet and playwright Padraic Fallon. He was chairman of an international financial publishing company whose headquarters are in London, and was a director of one of the largest UK newspaper groups. He was awarded the Wincott Special Award for […]
Patrick Galvin was born in Cork in 1927. His poetry collections include Heart of Grace (London, Linden Press, 1957); Christ in London (Linden Press, 1960); The Wood-burners (Dublin, New Writers Press, 1973); Man on the Porch (London, Martin Brien & O’Keeffe, 1980); Madwoman of Cork (cassette recording); Folktales for the General (Dublin, Raven Arts Press, […]
Carlo Gébler was born to the writers Edna O’Brien and Ernest Gébler in Dublin in 1954. He moved to London with his mother in 1958. His novels include The Eleventh Summer (London, Hamish Hamilton/New York, Dutton 1985); August in July (Hamish Hamilton, 1986); Work and Play (Hamish Hamilton/ New York, Fireside, 1987); Malachy and His […]
Nuala O’Faolain was born in Dublin in 1940. Her autobiographical books are Are You Somebody? (Dublin, New Island Books, 1996/New York, Owl Books, Henry Holt and Company, 1996), which became an international bestseller; and its sequel Almost There: The Onward Journey of a Dublin Woman (Riverhead Books/London, Michael Joseph, 2003). Her novels are My Dream […]
Hugo Hamilton was born in Dublin of Irish-German parentage. His novels are Surrogate City (London, Faber & Faber,1990); The Last Shot (Faber & Faber, 1991); The Love Test (Faber & Faber, 1995); Headbanger (London, Secker & Warburg, 1996); Sad Bastard (Secker & Warburg, 1998); Disguise (London, Fourth Estate, 2008); Hand in the Fire (Fourth Estate, […]
Although he claimed to have been born in Cork, Gerald Hanley was born in Liverpool in 1916, of an Irish family, but went to Africa when he was 19, where he joined the British army on the outbreak of the Second World War. He saw service in Burma (Myanmar), and his first book, Monsoon Victory […]
Adrian Kenny was born in Dublin in 1945. His fiction is Arcady & other Stories (Dublin, Writers Co-Op, 1983); The Feast of Michaelmas, a novel (Writer’s Co-Op, 1978); Before the Wax Hardened, an autobiographical novel (Dublin, Odell & Adair, 1991); a sequel to Before The Wax Hardened, the autobiographical novel The Family Business (Dublin, The […]
Hugh Leonard (pseudonym of John Keyes Byrne) was born in 1926 and raised in Dalkey, County Dublin. His output is vast and complex, encompassing theatre, including adaptations; television, including Insurrection (RTÉ, 1966), and many adaptations; film, memoir, criticism and journalism. Included amongst his plays are The Big Birthday Suit (Dublin, The Abbey Theatre, 1956); A […]
Brian Leyden was born in Roscommon in 1960. He has published a book of short stories, Departures (1992); and a novel, Death and Plenty (Dingle, Brandon, 1996). He has devised and performed a one-man stage show on W.B. Yeats called Experiments in Magic, and his RTÉ documentary, No Meadows in Manhattan, won a Jacobs Award […]
James Liddy was born in Dublin in 1934. His poetry publications include Esau, My Kingdom for a drink (Dublin, The Dolmen Press, 1962); In a Blue Smoke (The Dolmen Press, 1964); Blue Mountain (The Dolmen Press, 1968); A Life of Stephan Dedalus (San Francisco, White Rabbit Press, 1969); A Munster Song of Love and War […]
Michael Longley was born in Belfast in 1939.Longley His books of poetry include No Continuing City (London, Macmillan, 1969, US Dufour Editions 1969); An Exploded View (London, Victor Gollancz, 1973), Man Lying on a Wall (Victor Gollancz, 1976); The Echo Gate (London, Secker and Warburg, 1979); Poems 1963-1983 (U.K., Salamander Press; Loughcrew, Ireland, The Gallery […]
Ferdia Mac Anna was born in Dublin in 1955. His novels are The Last of the High Kings (London, Viking, 1991); The Ship Inspector (Viking, 1995); and Cartoon City (London, Headline, 2000). The film of The Last of the High Kings was released in 1996. He has edited The Penguin Book of Comic Irish Writing […]
Molly McCloskey was born in 1964 in Philadelphia, and moved to Ireland in 1989. She has published the collection of short stories, Solomon’s Seal (London, Phoenix House, 1997); The Beautiful Changes, a novella and four short stories (Dublin, The Lilliput Press, 2002); and a novel, Protection (Dublin, Penguin, 2005). Her memoir is Circles around the […]
John McGahern was born in Dublin in 1934, but moved to Leitrim as a child. His novels are The Barracks (London, Faber & Faber, 1963); The Dark (Faber & Faber, 1965); The Leavetaking (Faber & Faber, 1975) The Pornographer (Faber & Faber, 1980), Amongst Women (Faber & Faber, 1990); and That They May Face The […]
Hazel McIntyre was born in Donegal in 1946. Her novels include Lament In The Wind (Moran Publications, 1998); For Love of Mary Kate (Moran Publications, 1996); and Secrets On The Breeze (Moran Publications, 2002). She has published two memoirs Iron Wheels On Rocky Lanes (Moran Publications, 1993); and Echoes Of Another Time (Moran Publications, 2000) […]
George O’Brien was born in Lismore, Co Waterford. His works include the memoirs The Village of Longing (Leamington Spa, Sixth Chamber Press / Dublin, The Lilliput Press, 1987); Dancehall Days (Sixth Chamber Press / The Lilliput Press, 1998); and Out of Our Minds (Belfast, The Blackstaff Press, 1998). His other work includes Brien Friel (Dublin, […]
Peadar O’Donnell (Peadar Ó Domhnaill) was born to an Irish-speaking family in Dungloe, Co Donegal in 1893. A major radical figure in the history of twentieth century Ireland, he was prominent in the Irish War of Independence, the Civil War, and also fought in the Spanish Civil War on the Republican side. His polemic includes […]
Homan Potterton was born in 1946. His memoir of growing up on a farm in County Meath in the 1950s is Rathcormick: a Childhood Recalled (New Dublin, Island 2001, and London, Vintage 2004). Potterton People and Places: Three Centuries of an Irish Family, is a family history of the Pottertons in Ireland (Choice Books, 2006). […]
Liz Ryan was born in Dublin. Her novels include Blood Lines (London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1995/New York, St Martin’s Press, 1995, translated as Rukkehr nach Ashamber, Berlin, Rowholt Taschenbuch Verlag, 2006); A Note of Parting (Hodder & Stoughton, 1996); A Taste of Freedom (Hodder & Stoughton, 1997); The Past is Tomorrow (Hodder & Stoughton, 2000); […]
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.
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 […]
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, […]
