Biography

Broderick was born in Athlone, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, in 1924. Apart from a year or two spent in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 and Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, he lived most of his life in the Irish Midlands, except for his last eight years when he relocated to Bath, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. As the only child of the proprietors of a thriving local business, Broderick's Bakery, in material terms Broderick may had a privileged childhood; his father's death when he was three years old and the subsequent remarriage of his mother to the bakery manager were events which, however, were to colour his life's experience. Broderick never married and died in Bath in 1989.

After attending St. Joseph's College, Garbally, Ballinasloe, Broderick had some travel pieces from his time in Paris and Rome accepted for publication by The Irish Times

The Irish Times

The Irish Times is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Kevin O'Sullivan who succeeded Geraldine Kennedy in 2011; the deputy editor is Paul O'Neill. The Irish Times is considered to be Ireland's newspaper of record, and is published every day except Sundays...

. He went on to become a regular contributor of book reviews both to The Irish Times and Hibernia magazine, among others. As a critic he was frequently controversial being dismissive of a number of established writers including Heinrich Boll, Seamus Heaney and most notably Edna O'Brien while he was extremely generous and encouraging to a host of young Irish writers. His first novel, The Pilgrimage, (1961) was banned by the Irish Censorship Board

Censorship of Publications Board (Ireland)

The Censorship of Publications Board is an independent board established by the Censorship of Publications Act, 1929 to examine books and periodicals that are for sale in the Republic of Ireland. It is governed by the Censorship of Publications Acts of 1929, 1946 and 1967. The Board has the...

. The Westmeath County Library system has a collection of his papers, manuscripts and other materials.

Most of Broderick's family were born and reared in Athlone, and many still live there today. John Broderick is third cousins to Shauna, Cliodhna and Aisling Golden, three sisters who perform together as a singing act called "The Golden Sisters" who were quarter finalists on the RTE prime-time show "The All Ireland Talent Show

The All Ireland Talent Show

The All Ireland Talent Show was an RTÉ television series billed as Ireland's biggest-ever talent contest. It was first announced in November 2008 and the first series commenced broadcasting on 4 January 2009, completing on 15 March 2009. Modelled on Britain's Got Talent, it is produced by Tyrone...

".

Books

Broderick's novels include:

• The Pilgrimage (published in the United States
  United States
  The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
  
   as The Chameleons), 1961This title was translated into French
  French language
  French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
  
  .
• The Fugitives, 1962
• Don Juaneen, 1963
• The Waking of Willie Ryan, 1965
• An Apology for Roses, 1973This title was translated into Spanish
  Spanish language
  Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
  
  .
• The Pride of Summer, 1976
• London Irish, 1979
• The Trial of Father Dillingham, 1982Published in French as Cité Pleine des Rêves.
• A Prayer for Fair Weather, 1984
• The Rose Tree, 1985
• The Flood, 1987
• The Irish Magdalen, 1991

Memorials

Since 1999, Broderick has been commemorated in a number of ways, including:

• The Athlone Town Council named a street John Broderick Street

• The John Broderick Committee financially supported the publication of Something in the Head, the Life and Works of John Broderick, by Madeline Kingston (Lilliput 2004) and also the re-issue of The Pilgrimage and The Waking of Willie Ryan

• In 2007 Lilliput also published Stimulus of Sin, a selection of Broderick's non-fiction writings with some previously unpublished fiction

• Literary week-ends and events to keep his memory alive have been and are being organised from time to time