Ian Watson was born in Greenisland, Co. Antrim in 1946. His poetry collections are Kurzpass-Spiel (Bremen/Boston, Kellner Verlag, 2011), a German-language collection of poems and micro-prose on football; and Riverbank City (Hamburg, Blaupause Books, 2013). He has translated Heinrich Böll, Arne Rautenberg and Hans Meier into English and poems by Harry Clifton into German. Some […]
Alannah Hopkin’s novels are A Joke Goes a Long Way in the Country (London, Hamish Hamilton/New York, Atheneum, 1982); and The Out-haul (London, Hamish Hamilton, 1985). Her non-fiction includes The Living Legend Of Saint Patrick (London, Grafton Books/New York, St Martin’s Press, 1989); Inside Cork (Cork, The Collins Press, 1991); Eating Scenery: West Cork, The […]
Catherine Barry was born in 1963 in Dublin. Her novels are The House That Jack Built (London, Simon & Schuster, 2001); Null & Void (Simon & Schuster, 2002); and Skindeep (Simon & Schuster, 2004). Her non-fiction is Charlie & Me (Dublin, New Island books, 2011). She lives in Dublin. Catherine Barry on Facebook Catherine Barry: […]
Anna Heussaff was born in 1957 and grew up in Dublin. Her two crime novels in Irish are Bás Tobann (Baile Áth Cliath, Cois Life, 2004) and Buille Marfach (Gaillimh, Cló Iar-Chonnacht, 2010). Her first crime novel in English is a version of Buille Marfach entitled Deadly Intent (London, Severn House, 2014) and published under […]
Seán Dunne was born in Waterford in 1956. His poetry is collected as Against the Storm (Mountrath, Dolmen Press in 1985); The Sheltered Nest (Oldcastle, County Meath, The Gallery Press, 1992); Time and the Island: Selected and New Poems (The Gallery Press, 1996); and Collected (The Gallery Press, 2005). He also published The Road to […]
Alex Hijmans was born in Heemskerk in Holland In 1975. He moved to Ireland when he was twenty years old and learned Irish as part of his degree in Celtic Studies, before spending a twelve year period in Galway working in various Irish-language media. His main literary works to date have been written and published […]
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 […]
Ronan Bennett was born in Belfast in 1956. His novels are The Second Prison (London, Hamish Hamilton 1991); Overthrown by Strangers (Hamish Hamilton, 1992); The Catastrophist (London, Headline Review 1998); Havaoc, In Its Third Year (London, 2004), Hughes & Hughes/Irish Independent Irish Novel of the Year and shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize; […]
Dan Binchy was born in County Limerick in 1940. His novels are The Neon Madonna (London, Century, 1991); The Last Resort (Century, 1992); Fireballs (London, Century, Random House, 1993); and Loopy: A Novel of Golf and Ireland (New York, Thomas Dunne Books, 2005). He has also published Cover-up: The Disaster at Tuskar Rock (Tralee, Mount […]
Eavan Boland was born in Dublin in 1944. Her collections of poetry include 23 Poems (Dublin, Gallagher, 1962); The War Horse (London, Gollancz,1975); In Her Own Image (Dublin, Arlen House, 1980); Night Feed (Arlen House, 1982); The Journey (Manchester, Carcanet, 1987); Selected Poems (Carcanet, 1989/Pennsylvania, U.S.A., W W Norton & Co Inc, 1991); Outside History […]
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, […]
Angela Bourke’s short story collection is By Salt Water, (Dublin, New Island Books, 1996). Her other books include Caoineadh na dTrí Muire (Baile Átha Cliath, An Clóchomhar, 1983); The Burning of Bridget Cleary (London, Pimlico, 1999); and Maeve Brennan: Homesick at The New Yorker (London, Jonathan Cape, 2004/New York, Counterpoint, 2005). She edited volumes 1v […]
Corinne de Laittre Browne, who writes under the name Corinne Browne, was born in 1945 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her non-fiction includes Body Shop, Recovering from Vietnam (New York, Stein & Day 1971); Confessions of a Fish Doctor [with Scott Brodie] (New York, Workmen Press, 1976); Time Bomb: Understanding the Threat of Nuclear Power (New York, […]
Patricia Byrne was born in Mayo. Her narrative nonfiction is The Veiled Woman of Achill (Cork, The Collins Press, 2012). Her debut collection of poetry is Unstable Time (Belfast, Lapwing Press, 2009). She is also a writer of short stories, which have been anthologised. She lives in Limerick. Patricia Byrne’s website Patricia Byrne at The […]
Joyce Cary was born Arthur Joyce Lunel in Derry City in 1888, the family home being Castle Cary in Inishowen, Co Donegal. He settled in Oxford in 1920, having been wounded during World War I. His Novels include Aissa Saved (London, Ernest Benn 1932); An American Visitor (Ernest Benn 1933); The African Witch (London, Victor […]
Ciaran Carson was born in Belfast in 1948. His poetry collections include The New Estate (Belfast, Blackstaff Press, 1976) which won the Eric Gregory Award; The Irish for No (Oldcastle, Co Meath, The Gallery Press, 1987, and subsequently Wake Forest Press, USA/Bloodaxe Books, UK), which won the Alice Hunt Bartlett Award; Belfast Confetti (Gallery Books, […]
Paddy Crosbie was born in Dublin in 1913. His books are Tales from the School Around the Corner (Dublin and Cork, The Mercier Press, 1979); and Your Dinner’s Poured Out (with an introduction by James Plunkett, Dublin, O’Brien Press, 1981). A teacher by profession, he worked as a script writer in the Capitol Theatre, Dublin […]
Eric Cross was born in 1905 in Newry, Co. Down, but he was raised and educated in England where he became a chemical engineer and inventor. His book The Tailor and Ansty (with an introduction by Frank O’Connor, London, Chapman & Hall 1942, 1964/Cork, Mercier, 1970), was banned for a number of years and was […]
Philip Cummings, born in Belfast in 1964. His first poetry collection Néalta (Coiscéim, 2005) won the Irish Language prize in the Glen Dimplex New Writers Awards 2006 and was shortlisted for the Rupert and Eithne Strong Award 2006. Dar Liom (Coiscéim, 2008) is a selection of his columns from the newspaper Lá Nua, where he […]
Margaretta D’Arcy was born in London of Irish parentage in 1934 and was brought up and educated in Ireland. Her book-published work includes Tell Them Everything (1962); Awkward Corners; Political and Cultural Essays, with John Arden (London, Methuen); Arden and D’Arcy, Plays 1 (Methuen); Galways Pirate Women, a Global Trawl, compiled by Margaretta D’Arcy (Women’s […]
Martina Devlin was born in Omagh, Co Tyrone. Her novels are Three Wise Men (London, Harper Collins, 2000); Be Careful What You Wish For (Harper Collins, 2001); Venus Reborn (Dublin, Poolebeg, 2003); Temptation (Poolebeg Press, 2004); and Ship of Dreams (Poolebeg, 2007). Her non-fiction includes the autobiographical The Hollow Heart: The True Story of How […]
Brian Dillon was born in Dublin in 1969. His novella is Sanctuary (Berlin/New York, Sternberg Press, 2011). His non-fiction works include The Dark Room (London, Penguin 2005), which won the Irish Book Award for non-fiction; and Tormented Hope: Nine Hypochondriac Lives (Penguin, 2009), which was shortlisted for the Wellcome Trust Book Prize. and published in […]
J.P. Donleavy was born in New York City in 1926 and came to Ireland following World War II. He is the author of eleven novels including The Ginger Man (Paris, Olympia Press, 1955); A Singular Man (Boston, Atlantic Monthly Press/LIttle Brown & Company, 1964/London, The Bodley Head, 1964); The Saddest Summer of Samuel S (New […]
Emma Donoghue was born in Dublin in 1969. Her novels are Stirfry (London, Hamish Hamilton, 1994/New York: HarperCollins, 1994); Hood (Hamish Hamilton, 1995); Slammerkin (London, Virago, 2000/New York, Harcourt, 2000); The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits (Virago, 2002/ Harcourt, 2002); Life Mask (Harcourt/Virago, 2004); Landing, (New York, Harcourt, 2007); Room (London, Picador/New York, Little, […]
Rose Doyle was born in Dublin. Her novels are Images (Dublin, Poolebeg, 1993); Kimbay (Dublin, Town and Country/London, MacMillan, 1994); Alva (MacMillan, 1996); Perfectly Natural (MacMillan, 1997); In Secret Sin (Dublin, TownHouse/London, Pan MacMillan, 2000); Fate and Tomorrow (London, Hodder and Stoughton, 2002); Friends Indeed (Hodder and Stoughton, 2003); Gambling with Darkness (Hodder and Stoughton, […]
Catherine Dunne was born in Dubin in 1954. Her novels are In The Beginning (London, Jonathan Cape, 1997); A Name for Himself (Jonathan Cape, 1998); The Walled Garden (London, MacMillan, 2000); Another Kind of Life (London, Picador, 2003); Something Like Love (MacMillan, 2006); Missing Julia (MacMillan, 2010); and The Things We Know Now (MacMillan, 2013). […]
Anne Enright was born in Dublin in 1962. She has published two collections of stories, The Portable Virgin (London, Secker and Warburg 1991), which won the Rooney Prize that year; and Taking Pictures (London, Jonathan Cape, 2008), both collected as Yesterday’s Weather (New York, Grove Press, 2008). Her novels are The Wig My Father Wore, […]
James Harpur was born in 1956 of Irish-British descent. His poetry collections are A Vision of Comets (London, Anvil Press Poetry, 1993); The Monk’s Dream (Anvil Press Poetry, 1996); Oracle Bones (Anvil Press Poetry, 2001); The Dark Age (Anvil Press Poetry, 2007); and Angels and Harvesters (Anvil Press Poetry, 2012). He has also published his […]
Anne Le Marquand Hartigan was born and reared in England to a Catholic Irish mother and a Jersey father. She trained in Fine Art before moving to her mother’s family farm in Ireland with five small children and her farmer husband. Her collections are Long Tongue (Dublin, Beaver Row Press, 1982); Return Single (Beaver Row […]
Michael D. Higgins was born in Limerick in 1941, and reared in Newmarket-on-Fergus, Co. Clare. His collections are The Betrayal (Galway, Salmon Publishing, 1990 [illustrated Mick Mulcahy]); The Season of Fire (Tralee, Co. Kerry, Brandon, 1993 [illustrated Mick Mulcahy]); An Arid Season (Dublin, New Island Books, 2004); and New and Selected Poems (Dublin, Liberties Press, […]
Patrick Kavanagh was born in Inniskeen, County Monaghan in 1904. His poetry volumes are Ploughman & Other Poems (London, MacMillan Contemporary Poets Series, 1936); The Great Hunger (Dublin, The Cuala Press, 1942, Limited Edition); A Soul for Sale (MacMillan, 1947); Recent Poems (New York, The Peter Kavanagh Hand Press, 1958); Come Dance with Kitty Stobling […]
Brian Keenan was born in Belfast in 1950. He has published one novel, Turlough (London, Jonathan Cape, 2000). His other work includes the autobiographical An Evil Cradling (London, Hutchinson, 1992); concerning his experience as a hostage in the Lebanon; and, with his fellow hostage, John McCarthy, Between Extremes (New York, Bantam Press, 1999); Four Quarters […]
Conan Kennedy was born in Dublin. His novels are Here Be Ghosts (Dublin, O’Brien Press, 1982, eBook edition 2011); Ogulla Well (Killala, Co Mayo, Morrigan Books, 2002); The Colour of Her Eyes (eBook edition, 2011); The Snake Dancer of Sati Choura (eBook and printed editions Morrigan Books 2012). A Walk on The Southside, a memoir/love […]
Marian Keyes was born in Limerick in 1963. Her books are Watermelon (1995); Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married (1996); Rachel’s Holiday (1998); Last Chance Saloon (1999); Sushi for Beginners, (2000); Angels (2002); The Other Side of the Story; Anybody Out There?; This Charming Man (London, Michael Joseph, 2008); and The Mystery of Mercy Close (Michael […]
Benedict Kiely was born in 1919, near Dromore, Co Tyrone. His short stories collections include A Journey to the Seven Streams (London, Methuen 1963); A Ball of Malt and Madame Butterfly (London, Victor Gollancz 1973); A Cow in the House (London, Victor Gollancz, 1978); The State of Ireland: A Novella and Seven Short Stories (Boston, […]
David M. Kiely was born in Dublin in 1949. His books are John Millington Synge: A Biography (London, Gill and Macmillan, 1994/ New York, St Martin’s Press, 1995); A night in the Catacombs [Fictional Portraits of Ireland’s Literati] (Dublin, The Lilliput Press,1995); The Angel Tapes (Belfast, Blackstaff Press/St Martin’s Press, 1997); Bloody Women: Ireland’s Female […]
Chuck Kruger, born in 1938, grew up in the Finger Lakes of upstate NY. His short story collections include Between A Rock (Cork, Bradshaw Books, 2005). His poetry collections are Sourcing (Bradshaw Books, 2008); and Island Alchemy (Bradshaw Books, 2010). His non-fiction includes Cape Clear Island Magic (Cork, The Collins Press, 1994) [reissued in 1995 […]
Jessie Lendennie was born in Arkansas the United States and has lived in Ireland since 1981. Her prose poem, Daughter, was published by Salmon (Co Clare) and Signpost Press, Washington, in 1988 and was re-issued as Daughter & Other Poems (Galway, Salmon, 2001). Her non-fiction included Salmon Guide to Creative Writing in Ireland (Salmon Publishing, […]
June Levine was born in Dublin in 1931. She is the author of two best-selling books: Sisters, a personal history of the Irish feminist movement (Dublin, Ward River Press, 1985); and Lyn (with Lyn Madden) a story of prostitution (Dublin, The Women’s Press, 1988). Her novel is A Season of Weddings (Dublin, New Island Books, […]
Tom MacIntyre was born in Cavan in 1931. A dual-language writer, his poetry collections include Blood Relations: Versions of Gaelic Poems of the Seventeeth and Eighteenth Centuries (Dublin, New Writers’ Press, 1972); I Bailed Out at Ardee (Dublin, Dedalus Press, 1987); Fleur-du-Lit (Dublin, The Dedalus Press, 1994); A Glance Will Tell You and A Dream […]
John Montague was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1929 and reared on the family farm in Co Tyrone. His poetry includes Forms of Exile (1958); Poisoned Lands (Dublin, The Dolmen Press, 1961, 1977); A Chosen Light (1967); Tides (The Dolmen Press, 1971); (The Rough Field (Dolmen, 1972); A Slow Dance (Dolmen, 1975); The Great […]
Áine Ní Ghlinn was born in Co Tipperary in 1955. She has published three collections: An Chéim Bhriste (Baile Átha Cliath, Coiscéim, 1984); Gardín Pharthais (Coiscéim, 1988); and Deora Nár Caoineadh/Unshed Tears (Dublin, The Dedalus Press/ Coiscéim, 1996). She has written two non-fiction works for teenage readers, Mná agus nGnáth (Baile Átha Cliath, An Gúm, […]
Sean O’Casey was born John Casey in Dublin in 1880. His major plays are his Three Dublin Plays: The Shadow of a Gunman (Dublin, The Abbey Theatre, 1923), Juno and the Paycock (The Abbey Theatre, 1924), and The Plough and the Stars (The Abbey Theatre, 1926); and The Silver Tassie (London, 1929). The Plough and […]
Joseph O’Connor image was born in Dublin in 1963. His novels are Cowboys and Indians (London, Sinclair-Stevenson, 1991), which was short listed for The Whitbread Prize; Desperadoes (London, Flamingo, 1993); The Salesman (London, Secker & Warburg, 1998); Inishowen (Secker & Warburg, 2000); Star of the Sea (Secker & Warburg, 2002/New York, Harcourt Books, 2003); Redemption […]
Dennis O’Driscoll was born in Thurles, Co Tipperary, in 1954. A former editor of Poetry Ireland Review, he was one of Ireland’s most widely published and respected critics of poetry. His poetry volumes include Kist (Mountrath, Dolmen Press, 1982); Hidden Extras (London, Anvil Press Poetry/Dublin, The Dedalus Press, 1987); Long Story Short (Anvil Press Poetry/ […]
Desmond O’Grady was born in Limerick in 1935, and spent many years living in Paris, Rome, Cairo and Alexandria. His collections include Chords and Orchestrations (Limerick, 1956); Reilly (London, 1961); Separazoni (Rome, 1965); The Dark Edge of Europe (London, MacGibbon & Kee, 1967); The Dying Gaul (MacGibbon & Kee, 1968); Hellas (Dublin 1971); Separations (Dublin […]
Ernie (Ernest) O’Malley was born in Castlebar, Co. Mayo, in 1897, and was prominent in the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War. His best known works (On Another Man’s Wound takes its title taken from an Ulster proverb, It’s easy to sleep on another man’s wound) are the classic accounts of the […]
Joseph O’Neill was born in Cork in 1964. His novels are This Is The Life (London, Faber & Faber, 1991); The Breezes (Faber & Faber, 1995); and Netherland (London, Fourth Estate/New York, Pantheon, 2008). He has also published non-fiction, Blood-Dark Track: A Family History (London, Granta Books, 2001). He lives in New York and London. […]
Patricia O’Reilly’s novels are Once Upon a Summer (Dublin, The Wolfhound Press, 2000); Felicity’s Wedding (London, Oldcastle Books, 2001); and Time and Destiny (London, Hodder & Stoughton, 2003). Her non-fiction publications are Dying with Love (Dublin, Veritas 1992); Writing for the Market (Cork, Mercier 1994); Earning Your Living from Home (Dublin, Marino 1996); Working Mothers […]
Siobhán Parkinson was born in 1954 in Dublin but grew up in Galway and Donegal. Her books for children include The Leprechaun Who Wished He Wasn’t (O’Brien, 1993, reprinted 2003); Four Kids, Three Cats, Two Cows, One Witch (Maybe) (Dublin, O’Brien Press, 1998), which won a Bisto Merit Award; Sisters… No Way! (O’Brien Press, 1998), […]
Morag Prunty was born in 1964 to Irish parents and brought up in London. She moved to Ireland in 1990 to re-launch Irish Tatler. Her non-fiction includes the best-selling handbook for teenage girls, Boys (London, Picadilly Press, 1993). Her novels are Wild Cats & Colleens/Dancing with Mules (London, Pan MacMillan, 2001/New York, Harper Collins, 2001); […]
Marjorie Quarton was born in Nenagh, Co Tipperary in 1930. Her novels include Corporal Jack (London, Collins, 1987); No Harp Like My Own (Collins, 1988); and Renegade (London, André Deutsch, 1991). Her two volumes of memoirs are Breakfast The Night Before (André Deutsch, 1989); and Saturday’s Child (André Deutsch, 1993), both also published in an […]
Bob Quinn was born in 1935. He is primarily known as an independent film-maker, and has made more than 100 films, including documentary, feature and experimental, and which include Listen (1978); Self-Portrait with Red Car (1976); Poitín (1978); Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoire (1975); Atlantean (1985); and Budawanny (1987). He has received many awards, and two […]
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 […]
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 […]
Colm Tóibín was born in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford in 1955. His novels are The South (London, Serpent’s Tail, 1990; New York, Viking, 1991); The Heather Blazing (London, Picador, 1992; New York, Viking, 1993); The Story of the Night (Picador 1997); The Blackwater Lightship (Picador, 1999) for which he was shortlisted for The Booker Prize, 1999; […]
Gerard Whelan was born in Enniscorthy, County Wexford. He is the author of several books for children and is a multiple award-winner. The Guns of Easter, his first novel, (Dublin, The O’Brien Press, 1996), won a Bisto Merit Award and the Eilis Dillon Award for first-time writers. Dream Invader was the overall winner of the […]
Victoria White was born in Dublin in 1962. Her collection of short stories, Raving Autumn, was published by Poolebeg, Dublin, in 1990. Her non-fiction includes Mother Ireland: Why Ireland Hates Motherhood (Dublin, Londubh Books, 2010). She lives in Dublin. Victoria White at Londubh Books Victoria White at The National Library of Ireland
Oscar Wilde was born in Westland Row, Dublin on October 16th, 1854 to an eminent surgeon, William Wilde and the famous nationalist poet, Lady Jane Wilde, known as Speranza (her Selected Poems were published in Dublin in 1900). He settled in London in 1879. In 1882 he embarked on a lecture tour of the United […]
