Josephine Hart was born in Mullingar, Co Westmeath in 1942. She moved to London in 1964, where she became the only woman director of Haymarket Publishing, and later founded Gallery Poets and West End Poetry Hour, which presents the works of major poets like Eliiot, Larken, Auden, Yeats, Plath, and read by actors such as […]
Jack Harte was born in Sligo in 1944. His short stories collections are Murphy in the Underworld (Dublin, Glendale, 1986); Birds and Other Tails (Dublin, The Dedalus Press, 1996); Birds and Selected Stories (Opheus, Sophia, Bulgaria, 2001); and From Under Gogol’s Nose (Dublin, Scotus Press, 2004), accompanied by the CD Lament for the Birds, Sligo […]
Lara Harte was born in Dublin in 1975. Her novels are First Time (London, Pheonix House, 1996); Losing It (Pheonix House, 1999); Wild Geese (Pheonix House [Weidenfeld & Nicholson], 2003); and Honour Bound (New Delhi, Banyan Tree Books, 2007). She lives in Dublin. Lara Harte’s Website Lara Harte at The National Library of Ireland
Norma Harrs was born in Belfast. She has published one novel, A Certain State of Mind (Toronto, Virgo Press, 1980). Her short story collections are Love Minus One & Other Stories (Toronto, Hounslow Press, l994); and Where Dreams Have Gone (Toronto, Simon & Pierre, l997). Her plays are Essential Conflict (Harbourfront, Toronto, November, l985); The […]
Anne Haverty was born in Tipperary in 1959. Her novels are One Day as a Tiger (London, Chatto & Windus, 1997/New York, The Ecco Press, 1988); The Far Side of a Kiss (Chatto & Windus, 2000); and The Free and Easy (Chatto & Windus, 2006). Her poetry is collected as The Beauty of the Moon […]
Katy Hayes was born in Dublin in 1965, She has has worked as a theatre director and playwright, and was a founder member and resident director with Glasshouse Productions from 1990 to 1995. Her plays are Playgirl (Dublin, The Abbey Theatre, Peacock Stage, 1995); and Vampirella and the Company of Wolves (adapted from two short […]
Carole Hayman* is well known both as an award-winning actress and theatre director. Her first book was a comic novel, All the Best, Kim, which was serialized on Woman’s Hour, and which was followed by Ladies of Letters. She devised and co-wrote The Refuge which was shown on Channel 4, and also created the BBC […]
Dermot Healy was born in Westmeath in 1947. His short stories are collected as Banished Misfortune (London, Allison & Busby, 1984). His novels are Fighting with Shadows (London, Allison & Busby 1984); A Goat’s Song (London, Collins Harvill, 1994); Sudden Times (London, The Harvill Press, 1999); and Long Time No See (London, Faber, 2011). His […]
Aidan Higgins was born in Celbridge, Co Kildare in 1927. He has written short stories, travel pieces, radio drama and novels. His novels include Langrishe Go Down (London, Calder & Boyars, 1966), which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Irish Academy of Letters Award, and was filmed for television with a screenplay […]
Desmond Hogan was born in Ballinasloe, County Galway, in 1950. His novels are The Icon Maker (Dublin, Co-Op Books, 1976); The Leaves on Grey (London, Hamish Hamilton, 1980); A Curious Street (Hamish Hamilton, 1984); A New Shirt (Hamish Hamilton, 1986); and Farewell to Prague (London, Faber and Faber, 1995). His short story collections include Diamonds […]
Declan Hughes was born in Dublin. A long time writer-in-residence with the Rough Magic Theatre Company, his plays include I Can’t Get Started (Dublin Theatre Festival, 1990); Digging for Fire (Dublin Theatre Festival, 1991); New Morning; Hallowe’en Night; New Morning (London, Bush Theatre/Dublin, Rough Magic Theatre Company, 1993); Twenty Grand (Dublin, The Abbey Theatre, 1998); […]
Fred Johnston was born in Belfast in 1951. His collections are Measuring Angles (Connamara, Clo Iar-Chonnachta, 1993); True North (Cliffs of Moher, Co Clare, Salmon Poetry, 1997); Being Anywhere – New & Selected Poems (Belfast, Lagan Press, 2001); and The Neon Rose (Bristol, Bluechrome, 2007). His novels are Picture of a Girl in a Spanish […]
Jennifer Johnston was born in Dublin in 1930. Her novels have been published in many countries. Her main works are the novels The Captains and the Kings (London, Hamish Hamilton, 1972); The Gates (Hamish Hamilton, 1973); How Many Miles to Babylon? (Hamish Hamilton, 1974); Shadows on our Skin (Hamish Hamilton, 1977); The Old Jest (Hamish […]
Neil Jordan was born in Sligo in 1950. He has published one book of short stories, A Night in Tunisia (Co-Op Books, 1976), and the novels The Past (London, Jonathan Cape, 1980); The Dream of a Beast (Jonathan Cape, 1983); Sunrise and Seamonster (Jonathan Cape, 1995), Shade (London, Hodder Lir, 2004); and Mistaken (London, John […]
James Joyce was born in Dublin on February 2, 1882. His poetry includes Chamber Music (London, Elkin Mathews, 1907); Pomes Pennyeach (Paris, Shakespheare & Company, 1927); and Collected Poems (New York, The Black Sun Press, 1963). His collection of short stories is Dubliners (London, Grant Richards, 1914). His play, Exiles, was first performed in 1917 […]
Michael Judge was born in Drumcondra, Dublin on 26 July 1921. He has written many uncollected stories, publishing these from 1941 to 1951. Amongst his many radio plays are The Cardboard Man (CBC, 1958); The Hungry One, (Radio Éireann, 1959); You Don’t Understand (CBC, 1959); Retribution (Radio Éireann, 1959); As Other Men (Radio Éireann, 1961); […]
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 […]
Walter Keady was born in Castlebar, Co. Mayo, in 1934. His novels are Celibates and Other Lovers (Denver, Colorado, MacMurray & Beck,1997); Mary McGreevy (MacMurray & Beck, 1998); The Altruist (San Francisco, MacAdam/Cage, 2003 / London, Robert Hale, 2005); The Dowry (Thomas Dunne Books, 2007). Celibates and Other Lovers was published in German as Gottesdiener […]
John B. Keane was born in Listowel, Co Kerry in 1928. He published forty-six works, but is best known for his plays which inlcude Sive; Sharon’s Grave; The Man from Clare; The Year of the Hiker; The Field (which was adapted as a film of the same name); Many Young Men of Twenty; Big Maggie; […]
Molly Keane was born in Co Kildare in 1904 into an Anglo-Irish gentry family, the daughter of Walter Clarmount Skrine of Warleigh Manor, Somerset and Agnes Shakespeare Higginson, who published under the pseudonym Moira O’Neill, and whose novels The Elf Errant and An Easter Vacation, as well as a collection Songs of the Glen of […]
Claire Keegan was born in Wexford in 1968. Her story collections are Antarctica (London, Faber and Faber, 1999/New York, Grove/Atlantic, 1999); Walk the Blue Fields (Faber and Faber, 2007/ Grove Press, Black Cat, 2008); and the single story Foster (Faber and Faber, 2010). Her awards include The Francis MacManus Award; The William Trevor Prize; the […]
Denis Kehoe was born in Dublin in 1978. His novels are Nights Between the Nation (London, Serpent’s Tail, 2009); and Walking on Dry Land (Serpent’s Tail, 2011). He has studied philosophy and European literature and works as a critic, researcher and literacy tutor. He lives in Dublin. Denis Kehoe at Serpent’s Tail Denis Kehoe at […]
John Kelly was born in Co Fermanagh in 1965. Well known as a journalist and broadcaster, his novels are The Little Hammer (London, Jonathan Cape, 2000); and Sophisticated Boom Boom (Jonathan Cape, 2003). He lives in Dublin. John Kelly at RTÉ Mystery Train John Kelly at RTÉ Lyric FM John Kelly at The National Library […]
Julia Kelly was born in 1969. Her first novel is With My Lazy Eye (Dublin, The Lilliput Press, 2007). She was short-listed for the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award, and was nominated as one of the Irish Book Awards Books of the Decade in 2010. She lives in Bray, Co Wicklow. Julia Kelly at Writing.ie […]
Rita Kelly (var. Rita E. Kelly) was born in Galway in 1953. Her poetry has been collected as An Bealach Eadóigh (Baile Átha Cliath, Coiscéim, 1984; the bi-lingual Fare Well: Beir Beannacht (Dublin, The Attic Press, 1990); and Travelling West (Galway, Arlen House, 2000). Her short stories have been collected as The Whispering Arch and […]
Maeve Kelly was born in County Clare in 1930. Her short stories have been collected as A Life of Her Own (Dublin, Poolebeg, 1976); and Orange Horses (London, Michael Joseph, 1990. Her novels are Necessary Treasons (Michael Joseph, 1985); Florries Girls (Belfast, Blackstaff Press, 1991); and Alice in Thunderland (Fairytales for Feminists) (Dublin, Attic Press, […]
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 […]
Brendan Kennelly was born in Co Kerry in 1936. He has published over thirty books of poetry. His early poetry includes Cast a Cold Eye (with Rudi Holzapfel, Dublin, The Dolmen Press, 1959); The Rain, the Moon (with Rudi Holzapfel, The Dolmen Press, 1961); The Dark About Our Loves (with Rudi Holzapfel, Dublin, John Augustine […]
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 […]
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 […]
Kevin Kiely was born in Co Down in 1953. His novels are Quintesse (Dublin, Co-Op Books, 1982/New York St Martin’s Press, 1985); Mere Mortals (Dublin, Poolbeg Press, 1989); The Welkinn Complex (Florida, Number One Son Publishing, 2011). His poems are collected in the sequence Plainchant for a Sundering (Belfast, Lapwing Press, 2001); and Breakfast with […]
Claire Kilroy was born in Dublin in 1973. Her novels are All Summer (London, Faber & Faber 2003); Tenderwire (Faber & Faber 2006/New York, Harvest Books 2006); All Names Have Been Changed (Faber, 2009); and The Devil I Know (Faber & Faber, 2012). All Summer won the 2004 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, and was […]
Thomas Kilroy was born in 1934 in Callan, Co. Kilkenny. He has published a novel, The Big Chapel (London, Faber & Faber, 1971), which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and was awarded the Guardian Fiction Prize, 1971, but he is best known as a playwright. His plays include The Death and Resurrection of Mr […]
Nick Laird was born in Cookstown, Co Tyrone, in 1975. His poetry collections are To A Fault (London, Faber and Faber, 2004); On Purpose (Faber and Faber, 2007); and Go Giants (Faber and Faber, 2013). His novels are Utterly Monkey (London, Fourth Estate, 2005); and Glover’s Mistake (Fourth Estate, 2010). He is the recipient of […]
Brian Langan was born in Dublin in 1969. His novel is Light in the Head (Dublin, Poolbeg, 1999). He works full-time as an editor for The Liffey Press, and has co-edited Whisperings, the anthology of the Dublin 15 Writers Group, of which he is a member. He lives in Dublin.
Mary Lavin was born in Massachusetts, USA, in 1912, but she lived in Ireland from 1921, at first in Athenry Co Galway, and later in Meath and Dublin. Her short story collections are Tales from Bective Bridge (Boston, Little, Brown, 1942; London, Michael Joseph, 1943; Dublin: Poolbeg Press, 1978; re-issued Dublin, Town and Country House, […]
James Lawless was born in Dublin. His novels are Peeling Oranges (Mullingar, Killynon House Books, 2007); For Love of Anna (New Generation, 2009); The Avenue (Galway, Wordsonthestreet, 2010); Finding Penelope (Stoney Stanton, UK, Indigo Dreams Publishing, 2012); and Knowing Women (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013. His poetry collection is Rus in Urbe (Tralee, Doghouse, 2012). […]
Mary Leland was born in Cork in 1941. Her novels are The Killeen (London, Hamish Hamilton 1985); and Approaching Priests (London, Sinclair Stevenson 1991). She also published a collection of short stories entitled The Little Galloway Girls (London, Black Swan 1987). Her non-fiction includes Cork / Corcaigh: The Lie of the Land – a literary […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast in 1898. His poetry includes Spirits in Bondage ([psued. Clive Hamilton,] 1919); Dymer (London, J. M. Dent/New York, E. P. Dutton & Co. 1926; republished 1950); Narrative Poems (London, ed. Walter Hooper, Geoffrey Bles, 1969); and Poems (London, ed. Walter Hooper, Geoffrey Bles, 1964, 1977). His autobiographical works […]
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 […]
Antonia Logue was born in Park, Co Derry, in 1972. Her novel, Shadow-box (London, Bloomsbury, 1998), won the 1999 Irish Times Literature Award for an Irish Novel. She has been named one of the (London) Observer’s 21 writers for the 21st century. She lives in Co Cork. Antonia Logue at The National Library of Ireland
Brian Lynch was born in Dublin in 1945. His novel is The Winner of Sorrow (Dublin, New Island Books, 2005), about the poet William Cowper (1731-1800). His poetry collections include Endsville (1967); No Die Cast (Dublin, New Writers Press, 1969); Outside the Pheasantry (Gorey, Funge Arts Centre, 1974); Perpetual Star (Dublin, Raven Arts Press, 1981); […]
Liam Lynch was born in Dublin in 1937. His plays include the plays Do Thrushes Sing in Birmingham? (Dublin, The Abbey Theatre, 1962); Soldier (The Abbey Theatre, 1969); Krieg (Dublin, The Project Arts Centre, 1982); Voids (Dublin, Lourdes Hall [Platform Theatre Group] 1982). Strange Dreams Unending was broadcast by RTÉ in 1974. His novels are […]
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 […]
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 MacKenna was born in 1952 in Castledermot in Co Kildare. His short story collections include The Fallen and Other Stories (Belfast, The Blackstaff Press, 1992) which won The Irish Times First Fiction Award; A Year of Our Lives (London, Picador, 1995); and The River Field (Dublin, New Island Books, 2007). His novels are Clare […]
Bernard MacLaverty was born in Belfast in 1942. His novels include Lamb (London, Jonathan Cape 1980); Cal (London, Jonathan Cape, 1983); Grace Notes (London, Jonathan Cape, 1997), which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize; and The Anatomy School (Jonathan Cape, 2001). Both Lamb and Cal were produced as films of the same name, and for […]
Bryan MacMahon was born in Listowel, Co Kerry in 1909. His plays include The Bugle in the Blood (Dublin, The Abbey Theatre, 1949); The Song of the Anvil (The Abbey Theatre, 1960); The Honey Spike (The Abbey Theatre, 1961); The Master; Jack Furey; The Death of Biddy Early; The Time of the Whitethorn and The […]
Eugene McCabe was born in Glasgow in July 1930 of Irish parents. His published plays for stage include King of the Castle (Dublin, The Gallery Press/Newark, Proscenium, 1978); and his one-act plays Pull Down a Horseman/Gale Day (Dublin, Gallery, 1979). His plays for TV include Roma (Dublin, Turoe & RTÉ, 1979); and his trilogy Victims, […]
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 […]
Colum McCann was born in Dublin in 1965. His stories include Fishing the Sloe Black River (London, Pheonix House, 1994/ New York, Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt and Company, 1996). His novels are Song Dogs, (Pheonix House, 1995; New York, Henry Holt, 1995); This Side of Brightness (London, Orion, 1998/ New York, Metropolitan Books, 1998); Everything In […]
Seán McGrady was born in Belfast in 1955. His novel is The Backslider (Ann Arbor, MI, Dzanc Books, 2012). Formerly a university lecturer in philosophy and freelance writer/editor, he currently lives in York, UK. Sean McGrady at Dzanc Books Poeticus Philosophicus Seán McGrady’s top 10 philosophers’ novels Sean McGrady on Twitter
Eamonn McGrath was born in Wexford in 1929. His novels are Honour Thy Father (Dublin, Figgis,1970 / New York, Herder & Herder, 1972 (as The Clay Grew Tall) [reissued Belfast, The Blackstaff Press,1990]); The Charnel House (The Blackstaff Press, 1990/US, Dufour Editions, 1990); and The Fish in the Stone (The Blackstaff Press, 1994). Both Honour […]
J. Ardle McArdle was born in Dublin in 1934 and grew up in Monaghan. He published two novels, Closing Time (Dublin, Co-Op Books, 1982); and Sin Embargo (Dublin, Odell & Adair, 1987). Also a barrister, he has written How the Law Works, an Introduction to Law for West African Readers (London, Allen & Unwin, 1963). […]
Catherine Phil MacCarthy was born in 1954 in Crecora, Co. Limerick. Her collections are This Hour of the Tide (The Cliffs of Moher, Clare, Salmon Poetry,1994); The Blue Globe, (Belfast, The Blackstaff Press, 1998); Suntrap (The Blackstaff Press, 2007); and The Invisible Threshold (Dublin, The Dedalus Press, 2012). Her first novel is One Room an […]
