Mary O’Donoghue was born in 1975 and grew up in Co. Clare. Her collections are Tulle (The Cliffs of Moher, Salmon Publishing, 2001); and Among These Winters (Dublin, The Dedalus Press, 2007). Her debut novel is Before the House Burns (Dublin, The Lilliput Press, 2010). Her awards for fiction include Hennessy/Sunday Tribune New Irish Writer […]
Seán Ó Faoláin was born in Cork in 1900. He was baptized as John Whelan, but adapted the Irish form of his name, which is in turn anglicized to Sean O’Faolain. He fought with the Republican side in the Irish Civil War, and taught in the U.S. in the 1930s. He edited the literary journal […]
Liam O’Flaherty was born at Gort na gCapall, Inishmór, the largest of the Aran Islands, in 1896. He wrote in English and Irish. His main works include the novels Thy Neighbour’s Wife (London, Jonathan Cape, 1923); The Black Soul (Jonathan Cape, 1924); The Informer (Jonathan Cape, 1925), which was made into a film of the […]
Colm O’Gaora was born in Dublin in 1966. His short stories have been widely published and broadcast and have been been collected in Giving Ground (London, Jonathan Cape, 1993). His novels are A Crooked Field (London, Picador, 1999); and Another Sky (Picador, 2003). He lives in Dublin. Colm O’Gaora at Facebook Colm O’Gaora at The […]
Ed O’Loughlin was born in Toronto and raised in Ireland. His first novel, Not Untrue and Not Unkind (Dublin, Penguin Ireland, 2009), was long-listed for the 2009 Man Booker Prize; and Toploader (London, Quercus, 2011). He reported from Africa for the Irish Times and other papers, and was Middle East correspondent for the Sydney Morning […]
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 […]
Sean O’Reilly was born in Derry in 1969. He has published a collection of short stories, Curfew and Other Stories (London, Faber & Faber, 2000). His novels are Love And Sleep (Faber & Faber, 2002); The Swing of Things (Faber & Faber, 2004); and Watermark (Dublin, The Stinging Fly Press, 2005). He lives in Dublin. […]
Kate O’Riordan was born in the West of Ireland. Her novels are Involved (1995), which was shortlisted for the Dillons First Fiction Prize, and has been adapted by the author for TV; The Boy in the Moon (London, Flamingo, 1997); The Angel in the House (London, Flamingo, 2000); The Memory Stones (London, Simon & Schuster, […]
TS O’Rourke was born in 1968. His novels include Ganglands (Breffni Books, 1996); Death Call (Breffni Books, 1997); and The Republican (Killynon House Books, 2006). He has lived in Sydney, Gothenburg and London. Interview on Kindle Author Blogspot T.S. O’Rourke at The National Library of Ireland
Damien Owens was born in Monaghan in 1971. He also writes under the name Alex Coleman “for (sigh) marketing reasons”. His novels as Damien Owens are Dead Cat Bounce (London, Flame, 2001) Peter and Mary Have a Row (Flame, 2002). As Alex Coleman he has published The Bright Side (Dublin, Poolebeg Press, 2008); and Little […]
David Park was born in Belfast in 1954. His novels are The Healing (London, Jonathan Cape, 1992); The Rye Man (Jonathan Cape, 1994); Stone Kingdoms (London, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1996); The Big Snow (London, Bloomsbury, 2002); Swallowing the Sun (Bloomsbury, 2004); and The Truth Commissioner (Bloomsbury, 2008), for which he was awarded the 2009 Ewart–Biggs […]
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), […]
Julie Parsons was born in New Zealand but grew up in Ireland from an early age. Her novels are Mary, Mary (London, MacMillan, 1998); Courtship Gift (MacMillan, 1999); Eager to Please (MacMillan, 2001); The Guilty Heart (MacMillan 2003); The Smoking Room (MacMillan, 2004); The Hourglass (MacMillan, 2006). A former producer with RTÉ radio and television, […]
Glenn Patterson was born in Belfast in 1961. His novels include Burning Your Own (London, Chatto & Windus, 1988); Fat Lad (Chatto & Windus, 1992); Black Night at Big Thunder Mountain (Chatto & Windus, 1995); The International (London, Anchor, 1999); Number 5 (London, Hamish Hamilton, 2003); That Which Was (Hamish Hamilton, 2004); The Third Party […]
Tom Phelan was born in Strahard, Mountmellick, County Laois, in 1940. His books are In the Season of the Daisies (Dublin, Lilliput 1993/New York, Four Walls, 1996/ Paris, Editions Balland, 1997) Iscariot (Kerry, Brandon 1995/ Munich, Franz Schneekluth Verlag, 1997); Derrycloney (Brandon, 1999); The Canal Bridge (Lilliput, 2005); and Nailer (Freeport, New York, Glanvil Press, […]
James Plunkett (James Plunkett Kelly) was born in Dublin in 1920. As well as fiction, he wrote radio and television features, and film scripts. Big Jim (Dublin, O’Donnell, 1955), on the life of the trade unionist Jim Larkin, was commissioned by Radio Éireann. His main work includes the short story collections The Trusting and the […]
Suzanne Power was born in Dublin in 1968. Her novels are The Lost Souls’ Reunion (London, Picador, 2002); The Virgo Club (London, Hodder Lir, 2004); and Love and the Monroes (Dublin, Hodder Headline Ireland, 2005). Previously she has been a Fish Short Story competition winner. She lives in Dublin. Suzanne Power at Pan Macmillan Suzanne […]
J.F. Powers (James Farl Powers) was born on July 8th, 1917, in Jacksonville, Illinois, USA, and was married to the writer Betty Wahl. He published his first stories in The Catholic Worker and, as a pacifist, spent thirteen months in prison during World War II. According to his daughter Katherine A. Powers in an essay […]
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); […]
Deirdre Purcell was born in Dublin in 1945. A former Abbey actress, among her roles has been as Chrisine opposite Donal McCann in Drama at Inish; Miss Frost in The Ginger Man; and Pegeen in The Playboy of the Western World. Her novels include A Place of Stones (Dublin, Townhouse/London, Macmillan, 1991); Falling for a […]
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 […]
Patrick Quigley was born in 1953 in Co Monaghan. His novels are Borderland (Tralee, Brandon, 1994); and The Hours of her Face (Brandon, 1999). He has also published a biography, The Polish Irishman: The Life and Times of Count Casimir Markievicz (Dublin, The Liffey Press, 2012). An active member of the Irish Polish Society, he […]
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 […]
Niall Quinn was born in Dublin in 1943. His novels are Brigitte (New York, Braziller Press, 1981); Voyovic (Dublin, Wolfhound Press, 1981); Rejection (Washington, Willow Springs Press, 1983); Stolen Air (Wolfhound Press, 1988; USA Dufour Editions, 1989); The Café Cong (Wolfhound Press, 1991); Welcome to Gomorrah (Wolfhound Press, 1995); and The Snake Oil Fellowship (US, […]
Keith Ridgway was born in Dublin in 1965. He has published a collection of short stories, Standard Time (Faber & Faber, 2001); a novella, Horses (London, Faber & Faber, 1997}; and the novels The Long Falling (London, Faber & Faber, 1998/ New York, Houghton Mifflin, 1998); The Parts (Faber & Faber, 2003); Animals (London, Forth […]
Billy Roche was born in Wexford in 1949. He was for many years a singer, fronting his own band, The Roach Band. Best known as a dramatist, he has published one novel, Tumbling Down (Dublin,Wolfhound Press, 1984); and a collection of stories, Tales from Rainwater Pond (Kilkenny, Pillar Press, 2006). His plays include The Wexford […]
Frank Ronan was born in New Ross, Co Wexford in 1963. His first novel, The Man Who Loved Evelyn Cotton (London, Bloomsbury, 1989), received the Irish Times/Aer Lingus Irish Literature Prize. His subsequent novels include A Picnic in Eden (Bloomsbury, 1991); The Better Angel (Bloomsbury, 1992); Lovely (London, Sceptre, 1995); and Home (Sceptre, 2002). His […]
Hugh Fitzgerald Ryan was born in Dublin. His novels are The Kybe (Dublin, Wolfhound Press, 1983); Reprisal (Wolfhound Press, 1989); On Borrowed Ground (Wolfhound Press, 1993); Ancestral Voices (Wolfhound Press/ Virginia, USA, Vandamere Press, 1995); and In The Shadow of The Ombú Tree (Enniscorthy, Chaos Press, 2005). He lives in North County Dublin Hugh Fitzgerald […]
James Ryan grew up in Co Laois. His novels are Home from England (London, Pheonix House, 1995); Dismantling Mr Doyle (Pheonix House, 1997); Seeds of Doubt (London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2001); and South of the Border (Dublin, Lilliput Press, 2008) He teaches at the School of English and Drama, UCD, and lives in Dublin. James […]
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); […]
Oran Ryan was born in Dublin. His novels are The Death of Finn (Dublin, Seven Towers, 2006); Ten Short Novels by Arthur Kruger (Seven Towers 2006); and One Inch Punch (Seven Towers, 2012). His plays for the stage are Don Quixote has Been Promoted (Dublin Ranelagh Arts Festival, 2009); and for the Radio, Preliminary Design […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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); […]
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 […]
Patrick Taylor was born in 1941 and brought up in Bangor, Co. Down. His works of fiction include a short story collection, Only Wounded: Ulster Stories(Key Porter, 1997). His novels are Pray for Us Sinners (Ontario, Insomniac Press, 2000); Now and in the Hour of Our Death (Insomniac Press, 2005): An Irish Country Doctor (New […]
Neville Thompson was born in Ballyfermot, Dublin, in 1961. His novels include loves Johnser OK? (Dublin, Poolbeg 1997); Two Birds/One Stoned (Dublin: Poolbeg 1999); Have Ye No Homes to Go To? (Poolebeg, 1999); Mama’s Boys (Mullingar, Killynon House Books, 2006); and A Simple Twist of Fate (Killynon House Books, 2007). His plays include Sex, Lies […]
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; […]
Edward Toman was born in Northern Ireland, where he was one of the founders of the civil rights movement in the province in the late sixties. His novels are Shambles Corner (London, Flamingo, 1993); Dancing in Limbo (Flamingo, 1995); and The First Stone (ebook, 2011). He has lived in Zambia, The United States and London. […]
Honor Lilbush Wingfield Tracy was born in Suffolk, England, in 1913. Her novels include The Straight and Narrow Path (London, Methuen / New York, Random House 1958); A Number of Things (Methuen / Random House, 1960); A Season of Mists (Methuen / Random House, 1961); The First Day of Friday (Methuen / Random House, 1963); […]
Shaun Traynor was born in Aghadowey, County Derry, in 1941. His poetry collections include The Hardening Ground (London, Martin, Brian & O’Keeffe, 1974); and Images in Winter (Martin Brian & O’Keeffe, 1979). He has written several novels for children, including Hugo O’Huge (London, Metheun, 1984); The Children’s Giant (Metheun, 1989); The Giant’s Olympics (Metheun, 1987); […]
Peter Tremayne is the fiction-writing pseudonym of the Celtic scholar and author Peter Berresford Ellis. He was born in Coventry, Warwickshire, in England, on March 10, 1943. His father was a Cork-born journalist who started his career on the Cork Examiner. A prolific writer, who also publishes under the pseudonym Peter MacAlan, he has published […]
William Trevor (birth name William Trevor Cox) was born in Mitchelstown Co Cork in 1928. His novels include The Old Boys (London, The Bodley Head, 1964), which won The Hawthornden Prize; The Boarding House (The Bodley Head, 1965); The Love Department (The Bodley Head, 1966); Mrs Eckdorf in O’Neills Hotel (The Bodley Head, 1969); Miss […]
Matthew Tully was born to Irish parents in New York City in 1971 and spent his childhood in Carrickmacross before returning to the United States at age 13. His first novel is The Chimera Seed (Concord, Comfort Publishing, 2009). He lives in New Jersey. Matthew Tully’s website
Nesta Tuomey was born in Dublin. Her novels are Up Up and Away (Cork, Emperor Publishing, 1995); and Like One Of The Family (Dingle, Mount Eagle, 1999). Her plays, documentaries and short stories have been broadcast by BBC and RTÉ and her one-act play Whose Baby won the O.Z. Whitehead Play Competition in 1996. She […]
Una Troy was born in 1910 in Fermoy, Co Cork. She began her writing career under the name of Elizabeth Connor, and her novels from this period are Mount Prospect (London, Methuen, 1936/US, No House of Peace, 1937), which was banned in Ireland; and Dead Star’s Light (Methuen, 1938). In 1940 she adapted Mount Prospect […]
Katharine Tynan was born at Whitehall, Clondalkin, Co. Dublin in 1861. She published many poetry collections include Louise de la Valliere and Other Poems (London, Kegan, Paul Trench, & Co., 1885); Shamrocks (Kegan, Paul Trench, & Co., 1887); Ballads & Lyrics (Keegan, Paul, 1891); New Poems (London, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1911); The Flower of Peace: […]
Mervyn Wall was born in Dublin in 1908. His main works include the novels The Unfortunate Fursey (London, the Pilot Press, 1946/New York, Crown Publishers, 1947); The Return of Fursey (London, The Pilot Press, 1948); Leaves for the Burning (London, Methuen, 1952/New York, Devin-Adair, 1952); No Trophies Raise (Metheun, 1956); Hermitage (Dublin, The Wolfhound Press, […]
William Wall was born in Cork in 1955. His poetry collections are Mathematics & Other Poems* (Collins Press 1997), which won The Patrick Kavanagh Award and the Listowel Writers’ Week Collection Prize; Fahrenheit Says Nothing To Me (Dublin, Dedalus Press, 2004); and Ghost Estate (Cliffs of Moher, Salmon Poetry, 2011). As Bill Wall, he has […]
