Anne-Marie Casey was a script editor and producer of prime-time television drama for ten years before becoming a writer full time. She has written scripts for films and television series in the UK and Ireland and her stage adaptation of Little Women was staged at the Gate Theatre in Dublin in 2011. Her first novel […]
Patrick McCabe was born in Clones, Co Monaghan in 1955. He has published a children’s story, The Adventures of Shay Mouse (Dublin, Raven Arts Press, 1985), and the adult novels Music On Clinton Street (Raven, 1986); Carna (London, Aidan Ellis, 1989); The Butcher Boy (London, Picador, 1992), which was the winner of The Irish Times/Aer […]
Noel Duffy was born in Dublin in 1971. His poetry is collected as The Silence After (South Tipperary Arts Centre & Start Magazine, 2003); for which he was awarded the START Chapbook Prize for Poetry, and more recently the Firewords Poetry Award; In The Library Of Lost Objects (London, Ward Wood Publishing, 2011); and On […]
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 […]
Tom Paulin was born in Leeds in 1949 but grew up in Belfast. His poetry collections include A State Of Justice (London, Faber & Faber, 1977); The Strange Museum (Faber & Faber, 1980); Liberty Tree Faber & Faber, 1983); Fivemiletown, Faber & Faber, 1987); Walking A Line (Faber & Faber 1994); The Wind Dog (Faber […]
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 […]
John Banville was born in Wexford in 1945. His novels are Long Lankin ([nine short stories and the novella, The Possessed], London, Secker & Warburg, 1970); Nightspawn (Secker & Warburg, New York/ WW Norton, 1971); Birchwood (Secker & Warburg/WW Norton, 1973); Dr Copernicus (London, Martin Secker & Warburg, 1976); Kepler (Martin Secker & Warburg, 1981); […]
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); […]
Anne Barrett was born in Co Clare. Her first film, Spring Cleaning (Channel 4/RTÉ, 1986), received two international film awards, including Special Juror’s Award at the Cork film festival and was distributed in Scandanavia and mainland Europe. Her most recent feature script, Wild Horses, is the recipient of Irish Film Board and European Media 11 […]
Sebastian Barry was born in Dublin in 1955. His plays are The Pentagonal Dream (Damer Theatre 1986); Boss Grady’s Boys (Abbey Theatre, Peacock stage, Dublin 1988), which won the first BBC/Stewart Parker Award; Prayers of Sherkin (Abbey Theatre, Peacock stage, Dublin 1990, where he was Ansbacher Writer-in-Residence); White Woman Street (Bush Theatre, London 1992); The […]
Samuel Beckett was born in Foxrock, Co Dublin in 1906. His fiction includes More Pricks Than Kicks (London, Chatto and Windus, 1934); Murphy (London, G. Routledge, 1938); Molloy (Paris, Les Editions de Minuit 1951); English translation as Molloy by Samuel Beckett and Patrick Bowles. (Paris, Olympia Press, 1955); Malone Meurt (Paris, Les Editions de Minuit […]
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 […]
Maeve Binchy was born in Dublin in 1940. Her story collections are Central Line (Dublin, Ward River Press, 1977/London, Quartet, 1978); Victoria Line (Ward River Press/Quartet, 1980); Dublin 4 (Ward River Press/London, Century, 1983); and The Lilac Bus (Ward River Press, 1984/Century, 1986). Her novels are Light A Penny Candle (London, Century, 1982/New York, Viking, […]
Dermot Bolger was born in Finglas, North Dublin, in 1959. He founded Raven Arts Press, Dublin, where he was editor from 1979 to 1992. His novels are Night Shift, (Kerry, Brandon Books, 1982) ; The Woman’s Daughter, (Dublin, Raven Arts Press, 1987, revised and enlarged edition by Penguin, London 1991); The Journey Home (London,Viking, 1990/University […]
James (Jimmy) Brennan was born in Dublin in 1944. He was a member of the Stanislavski Studio at Focus Theatre from 1967-1969. His novel is Seaman (Dublin, Irish Writers Co-Op,1978). His poems and stories have been published in Cyphers and the Irish Press. His one-act play was Blind Salad (Dublin, Focus Theatre, October 1979). He […]
Joe Brennan was born in Wexford in 1968. His play The Witchin’ Well was produced by An Grianán Productions (Letterkenny, Co Donegal) in 2005 and 2006. The play toured nationally twice and featured at the Junction Festival (Clonmel, 2005), the Cork Midsummer Festival (2005), and at the ‘100, 1000, 1000000 Stories Festival‘, Teatrul Ion Creanga, […]
Hubert Butler was born in Kilkenny in 1900. He is recognized as the most distinctive Irish essayists, writing in the highest traditions of Swift and Shaw. His essays reflect his experiences in pre-war Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Latvia, Russia and China, as well as Ireland. In 1933/34 he translated and adapted Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard […]
Mairéad Byrne was born in Dublin in 1957. Her poetry collections include Talk Poetry (Miami University Press 2007), SOS Poetry (/ubu Editions 2007), and Nelson & The Huruburu Bird (Bray, Wild Honey Press 2003); also five chapbooks, An Educated Heart (Palm Press 2005), Vivas (Wild Honey Press 2005), Kalends (Belladonna* 2005), China Dogs (Poetic Inhalation […]
Tony Cafferky was born in Dublin. He has published a novel, Baulox (Dingle, Brandon 1984); and Storia del Identito, short fiction in translation (Milan, 1988). He has had three stage plays produced: Corporation Flat, Cement and Potatoes. He was awarded the inaugural Brendan Behan Fellowship in 1981. He lives in Leitrim. Tony Cafferky at The […]
Marina Carr was born in 1964 and grew up in Co Offaly. Her main theatrical works include Low in the Dark (Project Arts Centre, Dublin, 1989); The Deer’s Surrender (Dublin, Andrews Lane Theatre,1990); This Love Thing (Dublin, Project Arts Centre, and Belfast, Old Museum Building, 1991); Ullaloo (Dublin, The Abbey Theatre, The Peacock stage, 1991); […]
Paul Vincent Carroll was born Co Louth in 1900. His plays includes the one-act The Watched Pot (Dublin, The Abbey, Peacock Stage, 1930); The Things That are Caesar’s (Dublin, The Abbey Theatre, 1932); Coggerers (The Abbey Theatre, 1937 [later renamed The Conspirators]); Shadow and Substance (The Abbey Theatre, 1937), which was the winner of the […]
Philip Casey was born to Irish parents in London in 1950 and grew up in Co Wexford. His verse collections are Those Distant Summers (Dublin, Raven Arts Press, 1980); After Thunder (Raven Arts Press, 1985); The Year of the Knife Poems 1980-1990, (Raven Arts Press Dublin, 1991); Dialogue in Fading Light/New and Selected Poems (Dublin, […]
Thomas Carnduff was born in Belfast in 1886. He worked at a variety of jobs, at the Belfast shipyards and elsewhere, and also served as a sapper in the Royal Engineers during the First World War. He later served in the Ulster Special Constabulary. His poetry is collected as Songs from the Shipyard and other […]
James Cheasty was born in Waterford in 1928. He is the author of a novel, The Captive (Dublin, 1965), and several plays, including A Stranger Came (Dublin, Progress House, 1956 [foreword by Teresa Deevey and notes on production]); The Lost Years (1958); Francey (Dublin, The Olympia Theatre, 1962, Illsley-McCabe Productions [Irish translation, 1964]); All Set […]
Austin Clarke was born in Dublin in 1896. His collections include Collected Poems (London, George Allen & Unwin, 1936); Later Poems (Dublin, The Dolmen Press, 1961); Flight to Africa and Other Poems (The Dolmen Press, 1963); Mnemosyne Lay in Dust (The Dolmen Press, 1966); Old Fashioned Pilgrimage and Other Poems (The Dolmen Press, 1967); The […]
William Congreve was born in 1672, not 1670 and not at Bardsley, near Leeds in England, as he claimed. His father was steward to the Earl of Burlington, 1st Earl of Cork, and it is likely that he was born on the estates in Cork. At a very early age he was sent to school […]
Shane Connaughton was born in Cavan in 1941. He trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and has acted in several plays and films. He has published a collection of short stories, A Border Station (London, St Martin’s Press, 1989), for which he was short listed for the GPA Literary Award; […]
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 […]
Patrick Cotter was born in Cork in 1963. His collections are The Mysogynist’s Blue Nightmare (Raven Arts Press, 1990); A Socialist’s Dozen (Cork, Three Spires Press, 1990); and The True Story of Aoife and Lir’s Children & other poems (Three Spires Press, 2002); Perplexed Skin (Dublin, Arlen House, 2008); and Making Music (Three Spires Press, […]
Anthony Cronin was born in Co Wexford in 1928. His many works include the novels The Life of Riley (London, Secker & Warburg, 1964); and Identity Papers (Dublin, Co-Op Books, 1980). His collections of poems are Poems (London, Cresset, 1958); Collected Poems, 1950-73 (Dublin, New Writers Press, 1973); Reductionist Poem (Dublin, Raven Arts Press, 1980); […]
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 […]
Philip Davison was born in Dublin in 1957. His novels include The Book-Thief’s Heartbeat (Dublin, Co-Op Books, 1981); Twist and Shout (Dingle, Brandon Books, 1983); The Illustrator (Dublin, Wolfhound Press, 1988); The Crooked Man (London, Jonathan Cape, 1997); McKenzie’s Friend (Jonathan Cape, 2000); The Long Suit (Jonathan Cape, 2003); and A Burnable Town (Jonathan Cape, […]
Teresa Deevy was born on January 21, 1894 in Waterford. She was training to be a teacher when she lost her hearing through Méniéres disease, after which, in 1914, she went to London to learn lip reading. It was while in London she that developed an interest in theatre. In 1919 she returned to Waterford, […]
Anne Devlin was born in Belfast in 1951. She won the Hennessy Literary Award in 1982 for her short story Passages, which was adapted for television as A Woman Calling. Her plays, Ourselves Alone, includes A Woman Calling and The Long March and have been collected as Ourselves Alone (Faber & Faber, 1986). She has […]
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 […]
Neil Donnelly was born in Tullamore, Co. Offaly, in 1946. His plays for theatre include The Station Master (Edinburgh, 1974); Upstarts (Dublin, The Abbey Theatre, The Peacock stage, 1980); Silver Dollar Boys (Dublin,The Peacock, 1981); Flying Home (The Peacock, 1983); Chalk Farm Blues (The Peacock, 1984); Boys of Summer (Dublin, The Gaeity Theatre, 1985); Blindfold […]
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, […]
Moyra Donaldson was born in Co down in 1956. Her collections are Kissing Ghosts (Belfast, Lapwing Publications, 1995); Snakeskin Stilettos (Belfast, Lagan Press 1998/New Jersey, CavanKerry Press, 2002); Beneath the Ice (Belfast, Lagan Press 2001); The Horse’s Nest (Lagan Press, 2006); and Miracle Fruit (Lagan Press, 2010). Winner of the Allingham Award and the National […]
Dave Duggan was born in London and raised in Waterford. His novels are The Greening of Larry Mahon (Guildhall Press, 2004); and A Sudden Sun, (Guildhall Press, 2012). His film work includes the Oscar nominated Dance Lexie Dance (Raw Nerve Productions, 1996). His political comedy, Comhairleoirí went on-line for BBC in 2011. He also wrote the pilot episode for Na Deich […]
Padraic Fallon was born in Athenry, Co Galway in 1905. His first poems were published in Dublin by George Russell His only collection during his lifetime, Collected Poems (Dublin, The Dolmen Press, 1974) was published a few months before his death. His other collections are Poems & Versions (ed Brian Fallon, Dublin, Raven Arts Press/ […]
George Farquhar was born in Derry (or Londonderry) in 1678, the son of a poor clergyman. He attended Trinity College Dublin as a sizar or servitor, a class of poor scholars who were obliged to perform menial duties, but left to join the celebrated actor Wilks and his troupe of actors at Smock Alley Theatre […]
Bernard Farrell was born in Sandycove, Co Dublin. His plays for theatre include I Do Not Like Thee, Dr. Fell (Dublin, The Abbey Theatre, 1979); Legs Eleven (Moving Theatre, 1979); Canaries (Abbey Theatre, 1980); All In Favour Say No! (Abbey Theatre, 1981); Petty Sessions (Abbey Theatre, 1983); Don Juan (adapted from Molière, Abbey Theatre, 1984); […]
Gerard Mannix Flynn (aka Mannix Flynn) was born in Dublin in 1957. His work has dealt with such issues as institutional abuse, imprisonment and injustice. In 1977 The Liberty Suite, co-written with Peter Sheridan, was premiered at the Dublin Theatre Festival with Gerard Mannix Flynn as the protagonist. Nothing To Say, a novel was published […]
Celia de Fréine is a poet, critic, dramatist and screenwriter, in Irish and English. A TV episode she wrote for the Irish-language TG4 drama serial Ros na Rún was shortlisted for 1998 Pan Celtic Film and TV Festival. Her poetry collections are Faoi Chabáistí is Ríonacha (Gallimh, Cló Iar-Chonnachta, 2001), which is accompanied by a […]
Brian Friel was born in Co Tyrone in 1929. His short story collections are A Saucer of Larks (London, Gollancz, 1962) and The Gold in the Sea (Gollancz 1966). He has edited The Last of the Name (Memoirs of a Donegal Tailor). His plays are This Doubtful Paradise (1959) The Enemy Within (Dublin, Abbey Theatre, […]
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, […]
Miriam Gallagher was born in Waterford. Her books are Let’s Help Our Children Talk (non fiction), (Dublin, The O’Brien Press, 1977, 1978, 1979); Fancy Footwork (Selected Plays) (Dublin, Society of Irish Playwrights, 1991, 1997); and Song for Salamander (a novel) (2004, Trafford, Victoria, BC, Canada). She has also published short stories, including Pusakis at Paros […]
Ernest Gébler was born in Dublin in 1915. He was married for a time to Edna O’Brien and they had two sons, Sasha, and the novelist Carlo Gébler. His principal novels are He had My Heart Scalded; The Voyage of the Mayflower (1950), which was filmed and sold five million copies; A Week in the […]
Oliver Goldsmith was born on November 10th, 1730. His birthplace is disputed but it is most probably Pallasmore, Co. Longford. At the age of eight he had a severe attack of smallpox which disfigured him for life. He received a B.A. degree in February 1749 from Trinity College Dublin, before he left Ireland in 1752 […]
Lady Gregory was born Isabella Augusta Persse in 1852 in Roxborough House, near Loughrea, Co. Galway. At twenty-eight she married Sir W. H. Gregory, then a sixty-three year-old widower, former governor of Ceylon and Trustee of the National Gallery and MP for Galway, and who had been responsible for measures which compounded the misery suffered […]
Bridget O’Connor was born in Harrow, London. She was the second of five children of Bridie and Jim O’Connor, from Limerick and Cork. Her short story collections are Here Comes John (1993) and Tell Her You Love Her (1997), which were translated into several languages, including Serbo-Croat. Her story A Woman’s Hair was included in […]
James Hanley claimed he was born in Dublin on 3 September 1901, but was actually born in Liverpool in 1897 to Irish parents. His novel Boy was the subject of an obscenity charge in Manchester in early 1936 – to which his publishers pleaded guilty and were heavily fined. The book was withdrawn and all […]
Michael Harding was born in Cavan in 1953. He has published two novels, Priests (Blackstaff Press, 1986), and The Trouble With Sarah Gullion (Blackstaff Press, 1988); and the novella Bird in the Snow (Dublin, The Lilliput Press, 2008). His plays are Strawboys (Dublin, The Abbey Theatre, Peacock stage, 1987); Una Pooka (The Peacock, 1989); Misogynist […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Trudy Hayes was born in Dublin in 1962. Her stories are anthologized in Virgins and Hyacinths (Dublin, The Attic Press) and Ireland’s Women – Writings Past and Present (Dublin, Gill & MacMillan, 1994). She is also the author of The Politics of Seduction (The Attic Press, 1990). Her plays include Out Of My Head, which […]
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 […]
Seamus Heaney was born in Derry in 1939. His bibliography is vast, his work encompassing poetry, criticism, theatre and translation. His major poetry collections are Death of a Naturalist (London, Faber and Faber, 1966); Door Into the Dark (London, Faber and Faber, 1969); Wintering Out (London, Faber and Faber, 1972); North (London, Faber and Faber, […]
John Hewitt was born in Belfast in 1907, and educated at Methodist College and Queens University. From 1930 he worked in the Belfast Museum and Art Gallery and in 1957 he became the Art Director of the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry. He returned to Belfast on his retirement in 1972. He published […]
