List of Irish writers
Encyclopedia
This is a list of writers either born in Ireland
or holding Irish citizenship. Writers whose work is in Irish
are included. All links should have an article. Please create one for all red (dead) links.
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...
or holding Irish citizenship. Writers whose work is in Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
are included. All links should have an article. Please create one for all red (dead) links.
A–D
- John BanimJohn BanimJohn Banim , was an Irish novelist, short story writer, dramatist, poet and essayist, sometimes called the "Scott of Ireland." He also studied art, working as a painter of minatures and portraits, and as a drawing teacher, before dedicating himself to literature.-Early life:John Banim was born in...
(1798–1842) - Sebastian BarrySebastian BarrySebastian Barry is an Irish playwright, novelist, and poet. He has been shortlisted twice for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction and has won the 2008 Costa Book of the Year....
(born 1955) - Samuel BeckettSamuel BeckettSamuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
(1906–1989) - Brendan BehanBrendan BehanBrendan Francis Behan was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, and playwright who wrote in both Irish and English. He was also an Irish republican and a volunteer in the Irish Republican Army.-Early life:...
(1923–1964) - George A. BirminghamGeorge A. BirminghamGeorge A. Birmingham was the pen name of James Owen Hannay , Irish clergyman and prolific novelist.-Life and career:...
(1865-1950) - Dermot BolgerDermot BolgerDermot Bolger is an Irish novelist, playwright and poet born in Finglas, a suburb of Dublin.His work is often concerned with the articulation of the experiences of working-class characters who, for various reasons, feel alienated from society. Bolger questions the relevance of traditional...
(born 1959) - Dion BoucicaultDion BoucicaultDionysius Lardner Boursiquot , commonly known as Dion Boucicault, was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the most successful actor-playwright-managers then in the...
(1820–1890) - Colm ByrneColm ByrneColm Byrne is an Irish playwright. He was born in Limerick and lives in Galway. His plays have been noted as political, lively and poetic...
(born 1971) - Lucy CaldwellLucy CaldwellLucy Caldwell is a Northern Irish playwright and novelist.Born in Belfast in 1981 in what she later described as into one of the darkest and most turbulent years of the Troubles: the year the hunger strikes began, when within a few months Bobby Sands and nine others died; when things seemed to be...
(born 1981) - Marina CarrMarina CarrMarina Carr is an Irish playwright.Born in Tullamore, County Offaly, Carr attended University College Dublin before holding posts as writer-in-residence at the Abbey Theatre and Trinity College Dublin. She served as Heimbold Professor of Irish Studies at Villanova University in 2003...
(born 1964) - Paul Vincent Carroll (1900–1968)
- Austin ClarkeAustin Clarke (poet)thumb|300px|Austin Clarke Bridge in [[Templeogue]]Austin Clarke was one of the leading Irish poets of the generation after W. B. Yeats. He also wrote plays, novels and memoirs...
(1896–1974) - Padraic ColumPadraic ColumPadraic Colum was an Irish poet, novelist, dramatist, biographer, playwright, children's author and collector of folklore. He was one of the leading figures of the Celtic Revival.-Early life:...
(1881–1972) - William Congreve (1670–1729)
- James CousinsJames CousinsJames Henry Cousins was an Irish writer, playwright, actor, critic, editor, teacher and poet. He used several pseudonyms including Mac Oisín and the Hindu name Jayaram....
(1873–1956) - Anne Devlin (writer)Anne Devlin (writer)Anne Devlin is a short story writer, playwright and screenwriter born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She was a teacher from 1974 - 1978 and started writing fiction in 1976 in Germany...
(born 1951) - Roddy DoyleRoddy DoyleRoddy Doyle is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. Several of his books have been made into successful films, beginning with The Commitments in 1991. He won the Booker Prize in 1993....
(born 1958) - Gary DugganGary DugganGary Duggan is an Irish playwright.Born in Dublin in 1979, Duggan was raised in the North Dublin suburb of Donaghmede. He studied Media Production at Dublin Institute of Technology. Duggan began writing scripts at the age of 15 while attending Grange Community College in Donaghmede...
(born 1979) - Lord Dunsany (1878–1957)
E–J
- John Ennis
- St John Ervine (1883–1971)
- Seamus Finnegan
- Michael FitzpatrickMichael FitzpatrickMichael Fitzpatrick may refer to:*Michael J. Fitzpatrick , member of the New York State Assembly*Mike Fitzpatrick , Republican U.S...
- Brian FrielBrian FrielBrian Friel is an Irish dramatist, author and director of the Field Day Theatre Company. He is considered to be the greatest living English-language dramatist, hailed by the English-speaking world as an "Irish Chekhov" and "the universally accented voice of Ireland"...
(born 1929) - Miriam Gallagher
- Oliver GoldsmithOliver GoldsmithOliver Goldsmith was an Irish writer, poet and physician known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield , his pastoral poem The Deserted Village , and his plays The Good-Natur'd Man and She Stoops to Conquer...
(c.1728–1774) - Lady Augusta Gregory (1852–1932)
- Gerald GriffinGerald GriffinGerald Griffin was an Irish novelist, poet and playwright.-Biography:He was born in Limerick, Ireland, the son of a brewer. He went to London in 1823 and became a reporter for one of the daily papers, and later turned to writing fiction...
(1803–1840) - Declan HughesDeclan Hughes (writer)Declan Hughes is an Irish novelist, playwright and screenwriter. His most widely known crime novels center around the Irish-American detective Ed Loy. Loy is a homage to the character Sam Spade from The Maltese Falcon as a loy is a traditional Irish spade...
- Oritsegbemi Emmanuel Jakpa
- Alex Johnston
- Denis JohnstonDenis JohnstonDenis Johnston was an Irish writer. He wrote mostly plays, but also works of literary criticism, a book-length biographical essay of Jonathan Swift, a memoir and an eccentric work of philosophy. He also worked as a war correspondent, and as both a radio and television producer for the BBC...
(1901–1984) - Jennifer JohnstonJennifer JohnstonJennifer Johnston is an Irish novelist, winner of the Whitbread Book Award for The Old Jest in 1979, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1977...
(born 1930) - Marie JonesMarie JonesSarah Marie Jones is a Belfast-based actress and playwright. Born into a working class family, Jones was an actress for several years before turning her hand to writing.-Charabanc/DubbelJoint:...
(born c.1951) - James JoyceJames JoyceJames Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
(1882–1941) - James Augustus HickeyJames Augustus HickeyJames Augustus Hicky was an Irishman, who launced first printed newspaper of India, in January 1780, with the name Bengal Gazette also came to known Hicky's Bengal Gazette.-See also:...
K–P
- Patrick KavanaghPatrick KavanaghPatrick Kavanagh was an Irish poet and novelist. Regarded as one of the foremost poets of the 20th century, his best known works include the novel Tarry Flynn and the poems Raglan Road and The Great Hunger...
- John B. KeaneJohn B. KeaneJohn Brendan Keane was an Irish playwright, novelist and essayist from Listowel, County Kerry.-Life and career:...
- Thomas KilroyThomas KilroyThomas F. Kilroy is an Irish playwright and novelist.He was born in Green Street, Callan, County Kilkenny and studied at University College, Dublin. In his early career he was play editor at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin...
- Jerome KiltyJerome KiltyJerome Kilty is an American actor and playwright. He wrote Dear Liar: A Comedy of Letters, a play that had a successful run in New York, which was based on the correspondence of famed playwright George Bernard Shaw and actress Mrs. Patrick Campbell...
- Hugh LeonardHugh LeonardHugh Leonard was an Irish dramatist, television writer and essayist. In a career that spanned 50 years, Leonard wrote more than 18 plays, two volumes of essays and two autobiographies, one novel and numerous screenplays and teleplays, as well as writing a regular newspaper column.-Life and...
- Walter MackenWalter MackenWalter Macken , was born in Galway, Ireland. He was a writer of short stories, novels and plays. Originally an actor, principally with the Taibhdhearc in Galway, and The Abbey Theatre, he played lead roles on Broadway in M.J. Molloy's The King of Friday's Men and his own play Home Is the Hero...
- Micheál MacLiammoirMicheál MacLiammóirMicheál Mac Liammóir , born Alfred Willmore, was an English-born Irish actor, dramatist, impresario, writer, poet and painter. Mac Liammóir was born to a Protestant family living in the Kensal Green neighbourhood of London....
- Ian Macpherson
- Daniel Magee
- Jason Maher
- Edward MartynEdward MartynEdward Martyn was an Irish political and cultural activist and playwright.-Early life:Martyn was the eldest son of John Martyn of Tullira and Annie Mary Josephine Smyth of Masonbrook, Loughrea, both in County Galway. He succeeded his father upon John's death in 1860...
- John McCannJohn McCann (Irish politician)John McCann was an Irish politician, author and journalist. McCann stood unsuccessfully for election at the 1937 and 1938 general elections. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála at the Dublin South by-election held on 6 June 1939. The by-election was caused by the...
- Donagh MacDonaghDonagh MacDonaghDonagh MacDonagh was an Irish writer, judge, presenter, broadcaster, and playwright.-His private life:He was born in Dublin and was still a young child when his father Thomas MacDonagh, an Irish nationalist and poet, was executed in 1916.Tragedy struck again when his mother died of a heart attack...
- Martin McDonaghMartin McDonaghMartin McDonagh is an Irish-British playwright, filmmaker, and screenwriter. Although he has lived in London his entire life, he is considered one of the most important living Irish playwrights.-Life:...
- Frank McGuinnessFrank McGuinnessProfessor Frank McGuinness is an award-winning Irish playwright and poet. As well as his own works, which include Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme, he is recognised for a "strong record of adapting literary classics, having translated the plays of Racine, Sophocles, Ibsen and...
- Conor McPhersonConor McPhersonConor McPherson is an Irish playwright and director.-Life and career:McPherson was born in Dublin, . He was educated at University College Dublin, McPherson began writing his first plays there as a member of UCD Dramsoc, the college's dramatic society, and went on to found Fly By Night Theatre...
- M. J. MolloyM. J. MolloyMichael Joseph Molloy was an Irish playwright. He was born and died in Miltown, County Galway.Molloy originally intended to become a priest, but contracted tuberculosis as a young man. He began writing plays during his long hospital stays. His first play, Old Road, was produced at the Abbey...
- George Moore
- Gerald Murphy
- Jimmy MurphyJimmy Murphy (playwright)Jimmy Murphy is an Irish playwright living in Dublin.He is a former writer in residence at NUI Maynooth , a member of the Abbey Theatre’s Advisory Council and a recipient of three Bursaries in literature from the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon. He is a member of Aosdána.Murphy was born to Irish...
- John Murphy
- Tom MurphyTom Murphy (playwright)Tom Murphy is an Irish dramatist who has worked closely with the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and with Druid Theatre, Galway. He was born in Tuam, County Galway, Ireland...
- T. C. MurrayT. C. MurrayThomas Cornelius Murray was an Irish dramatist who was closely associated with the Abbey Theatre. He was born in Macroom, County Cork, and educated at St Patrick's Teacher Training College in Drumcondra, Dublin. He worked as a schoolteacher and in 1900 was appointed headmaster of the national...
- Sean O'CaseySeán O'CaseySeán O'Casey was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes.- Early life:...
- Joseph O'ConnorJoseph O'ConnorJoseph Victor O'Connor is an Irish novelist. He is known for his 2002 historical novel Star of the Sea. Before success as an author he was a journalist with the Sunday Tribune newspaper and Esquire magazine...
- Mary Devenport O'NeillMary Devenport O'NeillMary Devenport O'Neill was an Irish poet and dramatist and a friend and colleague of W. B. Yeats, George Russell,and Austin Clarke....
- Christian O'Reilly
- Mark O'RoweMark O'Rowe- Personal Background :Mark O'Rowe was born in 1970 in Dublin, Ireland, to parents Hugh and Patricia O'Rowe. He grew up in Tallaght, a working class suburb just south of Dublin, and he claims that much of the violence in his work stems from watching and rewatching a tremendous amount of violent,...
- Cathal Ó SearcaighCathal Ó SearcaighCathal Ó Searcaigh is an Irish poet who writes in the Irish language .Ó Searcaigh was born in Gort a' Choirce, a town in the Gaeltacht region of Donegal, and lives at the foot of Mount Errigal...
- Robert OwensonRobert OwensonRobert Owenson was an Irish actor, author and father of Lady Olivia Clark and novelist Lady Morgan.-Career:Born in the Tirawley area of County Mayo, Owenson would go on to establish a National Theatre Music Hall at Fishamble St., Dublin...
(1744–1812)
Q–Z
- Christina ReidChristina ReidChristina Reid is a playwright.-Life:She graduated from Queen’s University, Belfast.She was a writer-in-residence at the Lyric Theatre, and at the Young Vic...
(born 1942) - Lennox RobinsonLennox RobinsonEsmé Stuart Lennox Robinson was an Irish dramatist, poet and theatre producer and director who was involved with the Abbey Theatre....
- Billy RocheBilly RocheBilly Roche is an Irish playwright and actor. He was born and still lives in Wexford and most of his writings are based there...
- G. Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
(1856–1950) - Peter SheridanPeter SheridanPeter Sheridan is an Irish playwright, screenwriter and director. He lives in the north side of Dublin.His plays have a lyrical, vivid style amid tough dialog highlighting the difficulty and the promise of life in Ireland's capital. Awards include the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature...
- George ShielsGeorge ShielsGeorge Shiels was an Irish dramatist whose plays were a success both in his native Ulster and at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. His most famous plays are The Rugged Path, The Passing Day, and The New Gossoon....
(1881–1949) - Richard Brinsley SheridanRichard Brinsley SheridanRichard Brinsley Butler Sheridan was an Irish-born playwright and poet and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. For thirty-two years he was also a Whig Member of the British House of Commons for Stafford , Westminster and Ilchester...
- John Millington SyngeJohn Millington SyngeEdmund John Millington Synge was an Irish playwright, poet, prose writer, and collector of folklore. He was a key figure in the Irish Literary Revival and was one of the cofounders of the Abbey Theatre...
- Colin TeevanColin TeevanColin Teevan is an Irish playwright, radio dramatist, translator and academic.Teevan has premiered works in the National Theatres of Ireland, Scotland and the Royal National Theatre in London, He has been a regular collaborator of directors Hideki Noda, Sir Peter Hall, and actors Greg Hicks, Clare...
- Colm TóibínColm TóibínColm Tóibín is a multi-award-winning Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic, and, most recently, poet.Tóibín is Leonard Milberg Lecturer in Irish Letters at Princeton University in New Jersey and succeeded Martin Amis as professor of creative writing at the...
- Joseph TomeltyJoseph TomeltyJoseph Tomelty was a Northern Irish character actor and playwright. He worked in film, television, radio and on the stage, starring in Sam Thompson's 1960 play Over the Bridge.-Early life:...
- Mervyn WallMervyn WallMervyn Wall is an Irish writer who was born in Dublin. Wall attended Belvedere College and worked as a civil servant. His wife, Frances Feehan, was a music critic....
- Enda WalshEnda WalshEnda Walsh is an Irish playwright born in Dublin and currently living in London. Walsh attended the same secondary school where both Roddy Doyle and Paul Mercier taught. Having written for the Dublin Youth Theatre, he moved to Cork where he wrote Fishy Tales for the Graffiti Theatre Company,...
- Oscar WildeOscar WildeOscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
(1845–1900) - W.B. Yeats (1865–1939)
A–C
- John BanimJohn BanimJohn Banim , was an Irish novelist, short story writer, dramatist, poet and essayist, sometimes called the "Scott of Ireland." He also studied art, working as a painter of minatures and portraits, and as a drawing teacher, before dedicating himself to literature.-Early life:John Banim was born in...
(1798–1842) - Michael BanimMichael Banim-Works:He assisted John in the O'Hara Tales, where he used the name "Abel O'Hara," and there is difficulty in allocating their respective contributions. While John was the more experienced writer, Michael provided material based on his social observations...
(1796–1874) - John BanvilleJohn BanvilleJohn Banville is an Irish novelist and screenwriter.Banville's breakthrough novel The Book of Evidence was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and won the Guinness Peat Aviation award. His eighteenth novel, The Sea, won the Man Booker Prize in 2005. He was awarded the Franz Kafka Prize in 2011...
(born 1945) - Sebastian BarrySebastian BarrySebastian Barry is an Irish playwright, novelist, and poet. He has been shortlisted twice for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction and has won the 2008 Costa Book of the Year....
(born 1955) - Samuel BeckettSamuel BeckettSamuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
(1906–1989) - Brendan BehanBrendan BehanBrendan Francis Behan was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, and playwright who wrote in both Irish and English. He was also an Irish republican and a volunteer in the Irish Republican Army.-Early life:...
(1923–1964) - Gerard BeirneGerard BeirneGerard Beirne is an Irish author currently living in Canada.His novel The Eskimo in the Net was published by Marion Boyars in 2003 and was short-listed for the 2004 Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award...
(born 1962) - Maeve BinchyMaeve BinchyMaeve Binchy is an Irish novelist, newspaper columnist and speaker. Educated at University College Dublin, she worked as a teacher then a journalist at The Irish Times and later became a writer of novels and short stories.Many of her novels are set in Ireland, dealing with the tensions between...
(born 1940) - George A. BirminghamGeorge A. BirminghamGeorge A. Birmingham was the pen name of James Owen Hannay , Irish clergyman and prolific novelist.-Life and career:...
(1865-1950) - Dermot BolgerDermot BolgerDermot Bolger is an Irish novelist, playwright and poet born in Finglas, a suburb of Dublin.His work is often concerned with the articulation of the experiences of working-class characters who, for various reasons, feel alienated from society. Bolger questions the relevance of traditional...
(born 1959) - John BoyneJohn BoyneJohn Boyne is an Irish novelist.- Biography :He was educated at Terenure College, before heading to trinity college, dublin, and studied Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, where he won the Curtis Brown prize. But it was during his time at Trinity that he began to get published...
(born 1971) - Elizabeth BowenElizabeth BowenElizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen, CBE was an Irish novelist and short story writer.-Life:Elizabeth Bowen was born on 7 June 1899 at 15 Herbert Place in Dublin, Ireland and was baptized in the nearby St Stephen's Church on Upper Mount Street...
(1899–1973) - Maeve BrennanMaeve BrennanMaeve Brennan , was an Irish short story writer and journalist. She moved to the United States in 1934 when her father was appointed to the Irish Legation in Washington. She was an important figure in both Irish diaspora writing and in Irish writing itself...
(1916–1993) - John BroderickJohn Broderick (writer)-Biography:Broderick was born in Athlone, Ireland, in 1924. Apart from a year or two spent in Paris and Rome, he lived most of his life in the Irish Midlands, except for his last eight years when he relocated to Bath, England...
(1924–1989) - Lucy CaldwellLucy CaldwellLucy Caldwell is a Northern Irish playwright and novelist.Born in Belfast in 1981 in what she later described as into one of the darkest and most turbulent years of the Troubles: the year the hunger strikes began, when within a few months Bobby Sands and nine others died; when things seemed to be...
(born 1981) - Aifric CampbellAifric Campbell-Life:She was a convent schoolgirl in Dublin. She worked as an au pair, in Sweden.She graduated from the University of Göteborg in Linguistics.She was an investment banker in the City of London for 13 years....
(born ?) - William CarletonWilliam CarletonWilliam Carleton was an Irish novelist.Carleton's father was a Roman Catholic tenant farmer, who supported fourteen children on as many acres, and young Carleton passed his early life among scenes similar to those he later described in his books...
(1794–1869) - Austin ClarkeAustin Clarke (poet)thumb|300px|Austin Clarke Bridge in [[Templeogue]]Austin Clarke was one of the leading Irish poets of the generation after W. B. Yeats. He also wrote plays, novels and memoirs...
(1896–1974) - Brian CleeveBrian CleeveBrian Brendon Talbot Cleeve was a prolific writer, whose published works include twenty-one novels and over a hundred short stories. He was also an award-winning broadcaster on RTÉ television. Son of an Irish father and English mother, he was born and raised in England...
(1921–2003) - Kieron ConnollyKieron ConnollyKieron Connolly, Irish novelist, , his novels 'Water Sign', 'There is a House' and 'Harold' have dealt with subjects as diverse as romance, bereavement and addiction. Although everything about the author seems rooted in Dublin: his novels, accent, comparisons with Brendan Behan and Beckett etc.,...
(born 1961) - Eoin ColferEoin ColferEoin Colfer is an Irish author. He is most famous as the author of the Artemis Fowl series, but he has also written other successful books. His novels have been compared to the works of J. K. Rowling...
(born 1965) - Padraic ColumPadraic ColumPadraic Colum was an Irish poet, novelist, dramatist, biographer, playwright, children's author and collector of folklore. He was one of the leading figures of the Celtic Revival.-Early life:...
(1881–1972)
D–J
- Seamus DeaneSeamus DeaneSeamus Deane is an Irish poet, novelist, and critic.Born in Derry, Northern Ireland, Deane was born into a Catholic nationalist family. He attended St. Columb's College in Derry, Queen's University Belfast and Pembroke College, Cambridge University . At St...
(born 1940) - Frank DelaneyFrank DelaneyFrank Delaney is an Irish novelist, journalist and broadcaster. He's the author of New York Times best-seller "Ireland", the non-fiction book "Simple Courage: A True Story of Peril on the Sea", and many other works of fiction, non-fiction and collections...
(born 1942) - Emma DonoghueEmma DonoghueEmma Donoghue is an Irish-born playwright, literary historian and novelist now living in Canada. Her 2010 novel Room was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize and an international bestseller. Donoghue's 1995 novel Hood won the Stonewall Book Award and Slammerkin won the Ferro-Grumley Award for...
(born 1969) - Gerard DonovanGerard DonovanGerard Donovan is an acclaimed Irish-born novelist, photographer and poet currently living in Plymouth, England, working as a lecturer at the University of Plymouth....
(born ?) - Roddy DoyleRoddy DoyleRoddy Doyle is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. Several of his books have been made into successful films, beginning with The Commitments in 1991. He won the Booker Prize in 1993....
(born 1958) - Catherine DunneCatherine DunneCatherine Dunne is an Irish author. She was born in Dublin and studied English and Spanish at Trinity College, Dublin, before becoming a teacher....
(born 1954) - Lord Dunsany (1878–1957)
- Maria EdgeworthMaria EdgeworthMaria Edgeworth was a prolific Anglo-Irish writer of adults' and children's literature. She was one of the first realist writers in children's literature and was a significant figure in the evolution of the novel in Europe...
(1767–1849) - Anne Marie ForrestAnne Marie ForrestAnne Marie Forrest is an author who grew up Blarney, County Cork, Ireland. After graduating from University College Cork, she completed her Masters degree in Urban and Rural Planning at the University of California, Davis...
(born 1967) - Carlo Gebler (born 1954)
- Oliver GoldsmithOliver GoldsmithOliver Goldsmith was an Irish writer, poet and physician known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield , his pastoral poem The Deserted Village , and his plays The Good-Natur'd Man and She Stoops to Conquer...
(1728–1774) - Gerald GriffinGerald GriffinGerald Griffin was an Irish novelist, poet and playwright.-Biography:He was born in Limerick, Ireland, the son of a brewer. He went to London in 1823 and became a reporter for one of the daily papers, and later turned to writing fiction...
(1803–1840) - Hugo HamiltonHugo Hamilton-Life:Hamilton's mother was a German who travelled to Ireland in 1949 for a pilgrimage, married an Irishman, and settled in the country. His father was a militant nationalist who insisted that his children should speak only German or Irish, but not English, a prohibition the young Hugo resisted...
(born 1953) - Dermot HealyDermot HealyDermot Healy is an Irish novelist, playwright, and poet. He has won the Hennessy Award , the Tom Gallon Award , and the Encore Award...
(born 1947) - Aidan HigginsAidan Higgins-Life:His upbringing in a landed Catholic family in Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland, provided material for his first experimental novel, Langrishe, Go Down...
(born 1927) - Desmond HoganDesmond HoganDesmond Hogan is an Irish writer.Hogan was born in Ballinasloe in east County Galway, Ireland. His father was a draper. Educated locally at St. Grellan’s Boys’ National School and St. Josephs’s College, Garbally Park...
(born 1950) - Arlene HuntArlene Hunt-Bibliography:Arlene has written six crime novels, Vicious Circle, False Intentions, Black Sheep, Missing Presumed Dead, Undertow and Blood Money . She is currently working on a new novel.-External links:*...
(born 1972) - Jennifer JohnstonJennifer JohnstonJennifer Johnston is an Irish novelist, winner of the Whitbread Book Award for The Old Jest in 1979, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1977...
(born 1930) - Neil JordanNeil JordanNeil Patrick Jordan is an Irish filmmaker and novelist. He won an Academy Award for The Crying Game.- Early life :...
(born 1950) - James JoyceJames JoyceJames Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
(1882–1941)
K–R
- John B. KeaneJohn B. KeaneJohn Brendan Keane was an Irish playwright, novelist and essayist from Listowel, County Kerry.-Life and career:...
(1928-2002) - Molly KeaneMolly KeaneMolly Keane was an Irish novelist and playwright . She grew up at Ballyrankin in County Wexford and was educated at a boarding school in Bray, County Wicklow . She married Bobby Keane, one of a Waterford squirearchical family in 1938 and had two daughters...
(1904–1996) (writing as M.J. Farrell) - Charles KickhamCharles KickhamCharles Joseph Kickham was an Irish revolutionary, novelist, poet, journalist and one of the most prominent members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.-Early life:...
(1828–1882) - C. S. LewisC. S. LewisClive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
(1899–1963) - Morgan LlywelynMorgan LlywelynMorgan Llywelyn is an American-born Irish author best known for her historical fantasy, historical fiction, and historical non-fiction...
(1937- ) - David MarcusDavid MarcusDavid Marcus was an Irish Jewish editor and writer who was a lifelong advocate and editor of Irish fiction.- Life and times :...
(born 1924) - Colum McCannColum McCannColum McCann is an Irish writer of literary fiction. He is a Professor of Contemporary Literature at European Graduate School and Professor of Fiction at CUNY Hunter College's Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing with fellow novelists Peter Carey, twice winner of the Man Booker Prize,...
(born 1965) - Aine McCarthy (born 1960) (writing as Orna Ross)
- Barry McCreaBarry McCreaBarry McCrea is an Irish writer and academic. He grew up in Dalkey, Co. Dublin, and was educated at the Jesuit Gonzaga College, and Trinity College, Dublin where he studied French and Spanish literature...
(born 1974) - John McGahernJohn McGahernJohn McGahern was one of the most important Irish authors of the latter half of the twentieth century. Before his death in 2006 he was hailed as "the greatest living Irish novelist" by The Observer.-Life:...
(1934–2006) - Brinsley MacNamaraBrinsley MacNamaraBrinsley MacNamara was an Irish writer.Born as John Weldon near Delvin, County Westmeath, he worked for the Abbey Theatre from 1909, and later as the registrar of the National Gallery of Ireland....
(1890–1963) (real name John Weldon, see Valley of the Squinting WindowsValley of the Squinting WindowsValley of the Squinting Windows is a novel by Brinsley MacNamara , set in the fictional village of "Garradrimna", County Westmeath, Ireland...
) - Ian MacphersonIan Macpherson (comedian)Ian Macpherson is an Irish writer and performer. He is perhaps most famous for his stand-up comedy and his comic novel, Deep Probings: the autobiography of a genius , which loosely parallels his own life...
, Deep Probings, the autobiography of a genius - Anna McPartlinAnna McPartlinAnna McPartlin is an Irish novelist. Her novel Pack Up the Moon was her debut feature.-Biography:Anna McPartlin was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1972. As a teenager she grew up with her aunt and uncle as a fosterling in Kenmare, County Kerry. She studied marketing before working as a stand-up...
(born 1972) - Charles Robert Maturin (1782–1824)
- Brian MooreBrian Moore (novelist)Brian Moore was a Northern Irish novelist and screenwriter who emigrated to Canada and later lived in the United States. He was acclaimed for the descriptions in his novels of life in Northern Ireland after the Second World War, in particular his explorations of the inter-communal divisions of The...
(1921–1999) - George Moore (1852–1933)
- Jason Mordaunt (born 1966)
- Lady MorganLady MorganSydney, Lady Morgan , was an Irish novelist, best known as the author of The Wild Irish Girl.-Early life:...
(Sidney Owenson) (1776? – 1859) - Danny Morrison (born 1953)
- Iris MurdochIris MurdochDame Iris Murdoch DBE was an Irish-born British author and philosopher, best known for her novels about political and social questions of good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious...
(1919–1999) - Edna O'BrienEdna O'BrienEdna O'Brien is an Irish novelist and short story writer whose works often revolve around the inner feelings of women, and their problems in relating to men and to society as a whole.-Life and career:...
(born 1932?) - Joseph O'ConnorJoseph O'ConnorJoseph Victor O'Connor is an Irish novelist. He is known for his 2002 historical novel Star of the Sea. Before success as an author he was a journalist with the Sunday Tribune newspaper and Esquire magazine...
(born 1963) - Philip Ó CeallaighPhilip Ó Ceallaigh-Biography:Ó Ceallaigh has spent much of his life living in Eastern Europe, including many years in Romania. He has also lived in Russia during the early nineties, America thereafter, and then his first stint in Romania beginning in 1995. He spent two years in Galway, Ireland before returning to...
- Peadar O'DonnellPeadar O'DonnellPeadar O'Donnell was an Irish republican and socialist activist and writer.-Early life:Peadar O'Donnell was born into an Irish speaking family in Dungloe, County Donegal in northwest Ireland, in 1893. He attended St. Patrick's College, Dublin, where he trained as a teacher...
(1893–1986) - Liam O'FlahertyLiam O'FlahertyLiam O'Flaherty was a significant Irish novelist and short story writer and a major figure in the Irish literary renaissance, born August 28, 1896, died September 7, 1984.-Biography:...
(1896–1984) - Valentine O'HaraValentine O'HaraValentine James O'Hara was a noted Irish author and authority on Russia and the Baltic States in the 1920s.- Early life :Valentine James O'Hara was born on the 8 February 1875 in Bernere, Portarlington, County Laois, Ireland...
(1875–1941) - Jamie O'NeillJamie O'NeillJamie O'Neill is an Irish author. His critically acclaimed novel, At Swim, Two Boys , earned him the highest advance ever paid for an Irish novel and frequent praise as the natural successor to James Joyce, Flann O'Brien and Samuel Beckett...
(born 1962) - Brian O'Nolan (1912–1966) (writing as Flann O'BrienFlann O'BrienBrian O'Nolan was an Irish novelist, playwright and satirist regarded as a key figure in postmodern literature. Best known for novels such as At Swim-Two-Birds, The Third Policeman and An Béal Bocht and many satirical columns in The Irish Times Brian O'Nolan (5 October 1911 – 1 April 1966) was...
; journalistic pseudonym Myles na gCopaleen) - Sean O'ReillySean O'ReillySean O’Reilly is the owner and operator of Arcana Studio, Canada's largest comic book company.Through his abilities as a developer of transmedia properties O'Reilly has led Arcana Studio to winning The Joe Shuster Award for Outstanding Publisher in their first year, as voted by the retailers and...
(born 1969) - TS O'RourkeTS O'RourkeTS O’Rourke is an Irish author.His novels include:*Ganglands .)*Death Call ....
(born 1968) - Glenn PattersonGlenn PattersonGlenn Patterson, born in Belfast in 1961, is a novelist.He attended Methodist College Belfast. He graduated from the University of East Anglia where he studied Creative Writing under Malcolm Bradbury...
(born 1961) - Tom Phelan (born 1940)
- James PlunkettJames PlunkettJames Plunkett Kelly, or James Plunkett , was an Irish writer. He was educated at Synge Street CBS.Plunkett grew up among the Dublin working class and they, along with the petty bourgeoisie and lower intelligentsia, make up the bulk of the dramatis personae of his oeuvre...
(1920–2003) - Keith RidgwayKeith RidgwayKeith Ridgway is a Dublin-born award-winning writer. He currently lives in Edinburgh.-Writings:Ridgway's first published fictional prose work was Horses, which appeared in Faber First Fictions Volume 13 in 1997. In 1998 The Long Falling, was published by Faber & Faber, London...
(born 1965) - Frank RonanFrank RonanFrank Ronan is a novelist. He also writes a monthly column for Gardens Illustrated magazine. His novels have won numerous prizes including the 1989 Irish Times/Aer Lingus prize.-Works:...
(born 1963)
S–Z
- Somerville and RossSomerville and RossSomerville and Ross were an Anglo-Irish writing team, perhaps most famous for their series of books that were made into the TV series The Irish R.M.....
(otherwise Edith Somerville (1858–1949) and Violet Florence MartinViolet Florence MartinViolet Florence Martin was an Irish author who co-wrote a series of novels with cousin Edith Somerville under the pen name of Martin Ross in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.- Early life :...
(1862–1915) - Laurence SterneLaurence SterneLaurence Sterne was an Irish novelist and an Anglican clergyman. He is best known for his novels The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, and A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy; but he also published many sermons, wrote memoirs, and was involved in local politics...
(1713–1768) - Bram StokerBram StokerAbraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
(1847–1912) - Francis StuartFrancis StuartHenry Francis Montgomery Stuart was an Irish writer. His novels have been described as having a thrusting modernist iconoclasm. Awarded the highest artistic accolade in Ireland before his death in 2000, his unwillingness to take a clear moral stance with regard to his years spent in Nazi...
(1902–2000) - Jonathan SwiftJonathan SwiftJonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
(1667–1745) - Kate ThompsonKate Thompson (romantic novelist)Kate Thompson is an Northern Irish actress and romantic novelist who also writes as Pixie Pirelli . She was born in Belfast and studied English and French at Trinity College, Dublin. She spent many years as an actress in theatre and television, most notably in the Irish drama serial Glenroe...
(born 1959) - Robert TressellRobert TressellRobert Tressell was the nom-de-plume of Robert Croker, latterly Robert Noonan, an Irish writer best known for his novel The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.-Early life:...
- Colm TóibínColm TóibínColm Tóibín is a multi-award-winning Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic, and, most recently, poet.Tóibín is Leonard Milberg Lecturer in Irish Letters at Princeton University in New Jersey and succeeded Martin Amis as professor of creative writing at the...
(born 1955) - William WallWilliam WallWilliam "Bill" Wall is an Irish novelist, poet and short story writer. He was born in Cork City in 1955, but grew up in the coastal village of Whitegate. He received his secondary education at the Christian Brothers School in Midleton. He progressed to University College Cork where he graduated in...
(born 1955) - Oscar WildeOscar WildeOscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
(1854–1900)
A–D
- Adomnan (d. 704)
- Æ (George William Russell)George William RussellGeorge William Russell who wrote under the pseudonym Æ , was an Irish nationalist, writer, editor, critic, poet, and painter. He was also a mystical writer, and centre of a group of followers of theosophy in Dublin, for many years.-Organisor:Russell was born in Lurgan, County Armagh...
(1867–1935) - Gary AllenGary AllenGary Allen was an American conservative journalist.-Background:As a student, Allen was majoring in history at Stanford University and studied at California State University, Long Beach. He was a prominent member of the John Birch Society, of which he was a spokesman...
(born 1964) - Joseph AllenJoseph AllenJoseph Allen may refer to:* Joseph Allen , member of the eleventh United States Congress* Joseph Allen , Bishop of Bristol and Bishop of Ely* Joseph Allen * Joseph H...
(born 1964) - William AllinghamWilliam AllinghamWilliam Allingham was an Irish man of letters and a poet.-Biography:He was born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Ireland and was the son of the manager of a local bank who was of English descent...
(1824–1889) - Becc mac Lethdergain (fl. 5th century)
- Beccan mac LuigdechBeccán mac LuigdechBeccán mac Luigdech was a 7th-century Irish poet and monk of Iona. He is known for having composed two vernacular poems, Fo réir Choluimb and Tiugraind Beccáin , which were written c. 640 in praise of St Columba, the founder of Iona...
(fl. c. 650?) - Eaton Stannard BarrettEaton Stannard BarrettEaton Stannard Barrett was an Irish poet and author.-Career:Born in County Cork, Barrett studied law at Middle Temple, London. He is best known for his satirical poems about British political figures. The lines on the headstone of Thomas Moore’s daughter, usually ascribed to Joseph Atkinson, are...
(1786–1820) - Richard BarrettRichard Barrett (poet)Riocard Bairéad was a poet and United Irishman.Worked as a teacher and small farmer...
(1740–1818) - Samuel BeckettSamuel BeckettSamuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
(1906–1989) - Brendan BehanBrendan BehanBrendan Francis Behan was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, and playwright who wrote in both Irish and English. He was also an Irish republican and a volunteer in the Irish Republican Army.-Early life:...
(1923–1964) - Gerard BeirneGerard BeirneGerard Beirne is an Irish author currently living in Canada.His novel The Eskimo in the Net was published by Marion Boyars in 2003 and was short-listed for the 2004 Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award...
(born 1962) - Blathmac mac Cú BrettanBlathmac mac Cú BrettanBlathmac mac Con Brettan was an Irish fíle and monk whose floruit was around 760.Blathmac was the son of Cú Brettan mac Congussa , seemingly a king of the Airthir, one of the Airgíalla kingdoms, situated in modern-day County Monaghan. His brother Donn Bó was killed in battle in 759...
(fl. c. 750) - Eavan BolandEavan Boland-Biography:Boland's father, Frederick Boland, was a career diplomat and her mother, Frances Kelly, was a noted post-expressionist painter. She was born in Dublin in 1944. At the age of six, Boland's father was appointed Irish Ambassador to the United Kingdom; the family followed him to London,...
(born 1944) - Dermot BolgerDermot BolgerDermot Bolger is an Irish novelist, playwright and poet born in Finglas, a suburb of Dublin.His work is often concerned with the articulation of the experiences of working-class characters who, for various reasons, feel alienated from society. Bolger questions the relevance of traditional...
(born 1959) - Pat BoranPat BoranPat Boran is an Irish poet. Born in Portlaoise, Boran has lived in Dublin for a number of years. He is the publisher of the Dedalus Press which specialises in contemporary poetry from Ireland, and international poetry in English-language translation, and was until 2007 Programme Director of the...
(born 1963) - Bri mac Bairchid (fl. 5th century)
- Broccan (fl. 7th century)
- Frances BrowneFrances BrowneFrances Browne was an Irish poet and novelist, best remembered for her collection of short stories for children: Granny's Wonderful Chair.-Early life:...
(1816–1887) - Ciarán CarsonCiaran CarsonCiaran Gerard Carson is a Belfast, Northern Ireland-born poet and novelist.-Early years:Ciaran Carson was born in Belfast into an Irish-speaking family...
(born 1948) - Philip Casey (born 1950)
- Patrick ChapmanPatrick ChapmanPatrick Chapman is an Irish poet, writer and screenwriter, born in 1968. His poetry collections include:* Jazztown, * The New Pornography Patrick Chapman is an Irish poet, writer and screenwriter, born in 1968. His poetry collections include:* Jazztown, (Raven Arts Press, 1991)* The New Pornography...
(born 1968) - Austin ClarkeAustin Clarke (poet)thumb|300px|Austin Clarke Bridge in [[Templeogue]]Austin Clarke was one of the leading Irish poets of the generation after W. B. Yeats. He also wrote plays, novels and memoirs...
(1896–1974) - Brendan ClearyBrendan ClearyBrendan Cleary is a poet who was born in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland but lives in England.-Early years:Cleary attended Carrickfergus Grammar School in Northern Ireland. He moved from Northern Ireland in 1977 to Middlesbrough, a large town in northeast England, in order to attend Teesside...
- Brian CoffeyBrian CoffeyBrian Coffey was an Irish poet and publisher. His work was informed by his Catholicism and by his background in science and philosophy, and his connection to surrealism. For these reasons, he is seen as being closer to an intellectual European Catholic tradition than to mainstream Irish Catholic...
(1905–1995) - Colmán mac Lénéni (d. 604)
- Padraic ColumPadraic ColumPadraic Colum was an Irish poet, novelist, dramatist, biographer, playwright, children's author and collector of folklore. He was one of the leading figures of the Celtic Revival.-Early life:...
(1881–1972) - James CousinsJames CousinsJames Henry Cousins was an Irish writer, playwright, actor, critic, editor, teacher and poet. He used several pseudonyms including Mac Oisín and the Hindu name Jayaram....
(1873–1956) - Cuirithir of Connacht (fl. 7th century)
- John CunninghamJohn Cunningham (poet and dramatist)John Cunningham , whose parents came from Scotland, was an Irish pastoral poet and dramatist, who gained in his time some popularity. He started to write in the age of twelve, and at the age of 17 he wrote the play Love in a Mist...
(1729–1773) - Dallan ForgaillDallan ForgaillSaint Dallán Forgaill —also Dallán Forchella; Dallán of Cluain Dalláin; born Eochaid Forchella—was an early Christian Irish poet best known as the writer of the Amra Choluim Chille and the early Irish poem Rop tú mo baile, the basis of the modern English hymn Be Thou My Vision.-Personal...
(late 6th century) - Thomas DavisThomas Osborne Davis (Irish politician)Thomas Osborne Davis was a revolutionary Irish writer who was the chief organizer and poet of the Young Ireland movement.-Early life:...
(1814–1845) - Cecil Day-LewisCecil Day-LewisCecil Day-Lewis CBE was an Irish poet and the Poet Laureate from 1968 until his death in 1972. He also wrote mystery stories under the pseudonym of Nicholas Blake...
(1904-1972) - Denis DevlinDenis DevlinDenis Devlin was, along with Samuel Beckett and Brian Coffey, one of the generation of Irish modernist poets to emerge at the end of the 1920s. He was also a career diplomat.-Early life and studies:...
(1908–1959) - John DillonJohn DillonJohn Dillon was an Irish land reform agitator from Dublin, an Irish Home Rule activist, a nationalist politician, a Member of Parliament for over 35 years, and the last leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party....
(1816–1866) - Des Donnelly (born 1955)
- Gerard DonovanGerard DonovanGerard Donovan is an acclaimed Irish-born novelist, photographer and poet currently living in Plymouth, England, working as a lecturer at the University of Plymouth....
(born ?) - William DrennanWilliam DrennanWilliam Drennan ,a physician, poet, educationalist and political radical, was one of the chief architects of the Society of United Irishmen...
(d. 1820) - Dubtach moccu Lugair (fl. 5th century)
- Charles Gavan DuffyCharles Gavan DuffyAdditional Reading*, Allen & Unwin, 1973.*John Mitchel, A Cause Too Many, Aidan Hegarty, Camlane Press.*Thomas Davis, The Thinker and Teacher, Arthur Griffith, M.H. Gill & Son 1922....
(1816–1903) - Seán DunneSeán Dunne (poet)- Career :Dunne edited several anthologies, beginning with "The Poets of Munster" and finishing with the "Ireland Anthology" which was completed posthumously by George O'Brien and his partner Trish Edelstein. He released 3 collections of poems...
(1956–1995) - Lord Dunsany (1878–1957)
- Paul DurcanPaul DurcanPaul Durcan is a contemporary Irish poet.-Early life:Durcan grew up in Dublin and in Turlough, County Mayo. His father, John, was a barrister and circuit court judge; father and son had a difficult and formal relationship. Durcan enjoyed a warmer and more natural relationship with his mother,...
(1944)
E–L
- Flann MainistrechFlann MainistrechFlann Mainistrech was an Irish poet and historian.Flann was the son Echthigern mac Óengusso, who had been lector at the monastery of Monasterboice , in Irish Mainistir Buite, whence Flann's byname, meaning "of Monasterboice"...
(d. 1056) - Flannacan mac Cellaig, King of Brega (d. 896)
- Patrick GalvinPatrick GalvinPatrick Galvin was an Irish poet, singer, playwright, and prose and screen writer born in Cork's inner city.-Biography:Galvin was born in Cork in 1927 at a time of great political transition in Ireland...
(born 1927) - Monk GibbonMonk GibbonWilliam Monk Gibbon was an Irish poet and prolific author, known as "The Grand Old Man of Irish Letters". His collection of over twenty volumes of poetry, autobiography, travel and criticism are kept at Queen's University Belfast. He also wrote many published novels, and has been characterised as...
(1896–1987) - Oliver St John Gogarty (1878–1957)
- Oliver GoldsmithOliver GoldsmithOliver Goldsmith was an Irish writer, poet and physician known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield , his pastoral poem The Deserted Village , and his plays The Good-Natur'd Man and She Stoops to Conquer...
(1730? – 1774) - Stephen Gwynn (1864–1950)
- Michael Hartnett (1944–1999)
- Randolph HealyRandolph HealyRandolph Healy is an Irish poet and publisher.Healy was born in Scotland and moved to Dublin at the age of 18 months. After leaving school at the age of 14 to work in a number of jobs, he returned to full-time education and graduated in mathematical sciences from Trinity College, Dublin. He now...
(born 1956) - Seamus HeaneySeamus HeaneySeamus Heaney is an Irish poet, writer and lecturer. He lives in Dublin. Heaney has received the Nobel Prize in Literature , the Golden Wreath of Poetry , T. S. Eliot Prize and two Whitbread prizes...
(born 1939) - F. R. HigginsF. R. HigginsFrederick Robert Higgins was an Irish poet and theatre director.-Early years:Higgins was born on the west coast of Ireland in Foxford, which is located in County Mayo...
(1896–1941) - Pearse HutchinsonPearse HutchinsonPearse Hutchinson is an Irish poet, broadcaster and translator.-Childhood and education:Pearse Hutchinson was born in Glasgow. His father, Harry Hutchinson, a Scottish printer whose own father had left Dublin to find work in Scotland, was Sinn Féin treasurer in Glasgow and was interned in Frongoch...
(born 1927) - Douglas HydeDouglas HydeDouglas Hyde , known as An Craoibhín Aoibhinn , was an Irish scholar of the Irish language who served as the first President of Ireland from 1938 to 1945...
(1860–1949) - Irard mac Coisse (fl. pre-980)
- Valentin IremongerValentin IremongerValentin Iremonger was an Irish diplomat and poet.He was born in Dublin and joined the diplomatic service. He served as Irish Ambassador to Sweden, Norway, Finland, India and Luxembourg....
(1918–1991) - Diarmuid Johnson (born 1965)see Transcript Biography
- John JordanJohn Jordan (poet)John Jordan was an Irish poet born in Dublin on 8 April 1930. He was educated at Synge Street CBS, University College, Dublin and Pembroke College, Oxford. In his teens he acted on the stage of the Gate Theatre, Dublin, before winning a Scholarship in English and French to Oxford University from...
(1930–1988) - James JoyceJames JoyceJames Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
(1882–1941) - Trevor JoyceTrevor JoyceTrevor Joyce is an Irish poet, born in Dublin.He co-founded New Writers' Press in Dublin in 1967 and was a founding editor of NWP's The Lace Curtain; A Magazine of Poetry and Criticism in 1968....
(born 1947) - Patrick KavanaghPatrick KavanaghPatrick Kavanagh was an Irish poet and novelist. Regarded as one of the foremost poets of the 20th century, his best known works include the novel Tarry Flynn and the poems Raglan Road and The Great Hunger...
- Thomas KinsellaThomas KinsellaThomas Kinsella is an Irish poet, translator, editor, and publisher.-Early life and work:Kinsella was born in Lucan, County Dublin. He spent much of his childhood with relatives in rural Ireland. He was educated in the Irish language at the Model School, Inchicore and the O'Connell Christian...
(born 1928) - Charles KickhamCharles KickhamCharles Joseph Kickham was an Irish revolutionary, novelist, poet, journalist and one of the most prominent members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.-Early life:...
(d. 1882) - Emily LawlessEmily LawlessEmily Lawless was an Irish novelist and poet from County Kildare.-Biography :She was born at Lyons House below Lyons Hill, Ardclough, County Kildare. Her grandfather was Valentine Lawless, a member of the United Irishmen and son of a convert from Catholicism to the Church of Ireland. Her father...
(1845–1913) - Francis LedwidgeFrancis LedwidgeFrancis Edward Ledwidge was an Irish war poet from County Meath. Sometimes known as the "poet of the blackbirds", he was killed in action at the Battle of Passchendaele during World War I.-Early life:...
(1887–1917) - C. S. LewisC. S. LewisClive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
(1899–1963) - Liadan of Corcu Duibhne (fl. 7th century)
- James LiddyJames LiddyJames Liddy , was an Irish poet, born in Dublin, Ireland. He is best known for his collections In A Blue Smoke and Blue Mountain . The first volume of Liddy's memoir, The Doctor's House: An Autobiography, was published in 2004.-Bibliography:* Irish Poetry of Faith and Doubt:The Cold Heaven, p.187,...
- Michael LongleyMichael LongleyMichael Longley, CBE is a Northern Irish poet from Belfast.-Life and career:Longley was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and subsequently read Classics at Trinity College, Dublin, where he edited Icarus...
(born 1939) - Luccreth moccu ChiaraLuccreth moccu ChiaraLuccreth moccu Chíara was a poet from County Kerry, Ireland who wrote in archaic Old Irish. Moccu is an archaic form marking affiliation to an ancestral population group or gens, in this case the Cíarraige...
(fl. c. 580) - Frank L. Ludwig (born 1964)
M–P
- Mael Ruain of Tallaght (d. pre-800)
- Marcus of Ratisbon (fl.FloruitFloruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
1149) - The Monk of Reichenau (fl. early 9th century)
- Oengus Celi De (fl. c. 800)
- Oengus mac Oengoba mac Oiblean (fl. c. 800)
- Orthanach ua Coellamae (fl. late 8th century)
- Máire Mhac an tSaoiMáire Mhac an tSaoi-Background:Mhac an tSaoi was born as Máire MacEntee in Dublin in 1922. Her father, Seán MacEntee, a native of Belfast, was a founding member of Fianna Fáil, a long-serving TD and Tánaiste in the Dáil and a participant in the Easter Rising of 1916. Her mother, County Tipperary-born Margaret Browne...
(born 1922) - Denis Florence MacCarthyDenis Florence MacCarthyDenis Florence MacCarthy was an Irish poet, translator, and biographer, born in Lower O'Connell Street, Dublin.-Life:McCarthy was born in Lower O'Connell Street, Dublin, on 26 May 1817, and educated there and at Maynooth. He acquired an intimate knowledge of Spanish from a learned priest, who had...
(1817–1868) - Donagh MacDonaghDonagh MacDonaghDonagh MacDonagh was an Irish writer, judge, presenter, broadcaster, and playwright.-His private life:He was born in Dublin and was still a young child when his father Thomas MacDonagh, an Irish nationalist and poet, was executed in 1916.Tragedy struck again when his mother died of a heart attack...
(1912–1968) - Thomas MacDonaghThomas MacDonaghThomas MacDonagh was an Irish nationalist, poet, playwright, and a leader of the 1916 Easter Rising.-Early life:MacDonagh was born in Cloughjordan, County Tipperary...
(1878–1916) - Patrick MacDonoghPatrick MacDonoghPatrick MacDonogh was an Irish poet. He was born in Dublin and educated at Avoca School and Trinity College, Dublin. MacDonogh worked as a teacher and commercial artist before joining the staff of Arthur Guinness Son & Co., where he later held a senior executive post.He published five books of...
(1902–1961) - Hugh McFaddenHugh McFaddenHugh McFadden is an Irish poet, literary editor, executor and freelance journalist.-Early life:McFadden was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, where he lived briefly, and then moved to County Donegal, Republic of Ireland, before moving to Dublin...
(born 1942) - Seán MacFalls (born 1957)
- Patrick MacGillPatrick MacGillPatrick MacGill was an Irish journalist, poet and novelist, known as "The Navvy Poet" because he had worked as a navvy before he began writing.MacGill was born in Glenties, County Donegal...
(1889–1960) - Thomas MacGreevyThomas MacGreevyThomas MacGreevy was a pivotal figure in the history of Irish literary modernism. A poet, he was also director of the National Gallery of Ireland from 1950 to 1963 and served on the first Irish Arts Council .-Early life:MacGreevy was born in County Kerry, the son of a policeman and a primary...
(1893–1967) - Derek Mahon (born 1941)
- Louis MacNeiceLouis MacNeiceFrederick Louis MacNeice CBE was an Irish poet and playwright. He was part of the generation of "thirties poets" which included W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender and Cecil Day-Lewis; nicknamed "MacSpaunday" as a group — a name invented by Roy Campbell, in his Talking Bronco...
(1907–1963) - Bryant H. McGillBryant H. McGillBryant Harrison McGill is an American editor and author who was born in Mobile, Alabama. McGill is the editor and author of the McGill English Dictionary of Rhyme, and other books in the McGill Reference Series, which are used by over one hundred thousand writers, educators, students,...
- Niall McGrath (born 1966)
- Gerard McKeownGerard McKeownGerard McKeown is a writer from Ballymena, Northern Ireland. A graduate of Cumbria Institute of the Arts, he is best known for his performance poetry, which draws as much from disciplines such as stand up comedy and bardic story telling as it does poetry.He has performed as a support act for other...
(born 1980) - Nigel McLoughlinNigel McLoughlinNigel McLoughlin . He is a poet, editor and teacher. He lives in Gloucestershire, England.- Education :He received his early education at St. Michael's College, Enniskillen. He holds a BA in English from the University of London and a Diploma in Irish Language from the University of Ulster...
(born 1968) - William Brendan McPhillips (born 1937)
- James Clarence ManganJames Clarence ManganJames Clarence Mangan, born James Mangan was an Irish poet.-Early life:Mangan was the son of a former hedge school teacher who took over a grocery business and eventually became bankrupt....
(1803–1849) - Brian MerrimanBrian MerrimanBrian Merriman or in Irish Brian Mac Giolla Meidhre was an Irish language poet and teacher. His single surviving work of substance, the 1000-line long Cúirt An Mheán Oíche is widely regarded as the greatest comic poem in the history of Irish literature.-Merriman's life:Merriman appears to have...
(1747–1805) - Alice MilliganAlice MilliganAlice Milligan was an Irish nationalist poet and writer, active in the Gaelic League.-Life:She was born and raised a Protestant in Gortmore, near Omagh, County Tyrone. Milligan's father was the writer Seaton Milligan, antiquary and member of the RIA...
(1865–1953) - John MontagueJohn Montague (poet)John Montague is an Irish poet. He was born in New York and brought up in Tyrone. He has published a number of volumes of poetry, two collections of short stories and two volumes of memoir. He is one of the best known Irish contemporary poets...
(born 1929) - Thomas MooreThomas MooreThomas Moore was an Irish poet, singer, songwriter, and entertainer, now best remembered for the lyrics of The Minstrel Boy and The Last Rose of Summer. He was responsible, with John Murray, for burning Lord Byron's memoirs after his death...
(1779–1852) - Paul MuldoonPaul MuldoonPaul Muldoon is an Irish poet. He has published over thirty collections and won a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the T. S. Eliot Prize. He held the post of Oxford Professor of Poetry from 1999 - 2004. At Princeton University he is both the Howard G. B. Clark ’21 Professor in the Humanities and...
(born 1951) - Gerry MurphyGerry MurphyGerry Murphy was the Director of Football Development at Huddersfield Town between 1988 and 2009...
(born 1952) - Eiléan Ní ChuilleanáinEiléan Ní ChuilleanáinEiléan Ní Chuilleanáin is an Irish poet born in Cork .-Life:Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin is the daughter of Eilís Dillon and Professor Cormac Ó Cuilleanáin. She was educated at University College Cork and The University of Oxford. She lives in Dublin with her husband Macdara Woods, and they have one...
(born 1942) - Nuala Ní ChonchúirNuala Ní Chonchúir-Biography:Born in Dublin in 1970, Nuala Ní Chonchúir is a full-time fiction writer and poet, living in County Galway. She has published two collections of short fiction and two poetry collections - one in an anthology. Nuala holds a BA in Irish from Trinity College Dublin and a Masters in...
(born 1970) - Nuala Ní DhomhnaillNuala Ní DhomhnaillNuala Ní Dhomhnaill is an Irish poet.Born in Lancashire, England in 1952, of Irish parents, she moved to Ireland at the age of 5, and was brought up in the Dingle Gaeltacht and in Nenagh, County Tipperary. Her uncle is Monsignor Pádraig Ó Fiannachta of An Daingean, the leading authority alive on...
(born 1952) - Dáibhí Ó BruadairDáibhí Ó BruadairDáibhí Ó Bruadair was one of the most significant Irish language poets of the 17th century. He lived through a momentous time in Irish history and his work serves as testimony to the death of the old Irish cultural and political order and the decline in respect for the once honoured and feared...
(David O Bruadair) - Tomas O' Carthaigh (born 1976)
- Lughaidh Ó CléirighLughaidh Ó CléirighLughaidh Ó Cléirigh , sometimes anglicised as Lewey O'Clery, was an Irish Gaelic poet and historian. He is best known today as the author of Beatha Aodha Ruaidh Uí Dhomhnaill, a biography of Red Hugh O'Donnell.-Life:...
(c.1580 – c.1640) - Máirtín Ó DireáinMáirtín Ó DireáinMáirtín Ó Direáin born in Sruthán on Inismór in the Aran Islands was an Irish language poet.The son of a small-farmer, Máirtín Ó Direáin spoke only Irish until his mid-teens. He worked as a civil servant from 1928 until 1975...
(1910–1988) - Seán Mór Ó DubhagáinSeán Mór Ó DubhagáinSeán Mór Ó Dubhagáin was an Irish Gaelic poet.-Background:Ó Dubhagáinn was among the first notable members of the bardic family Baile Uí Dhubhagáin , near Loughrea, County Galway...
(d. 1372) - Cinaed Ó hArtucain (d. 975)
- Mary Devenport O'NeillMary Devenport O'NeillMary Devenport O'Neill was an Irish poet and dramatist and a friend and colleague of W. B. Yeats, George Russell,and Austin Clarke....
(1879–1967) - Antoine Ó RaifteiriAntoine Ó RaifteiriAntoine Ó Raifteiri was an Irish language poet who is often called the last of the wandering bards.-Biography:...
(Anthony Raftery) (1784–1835) - Aogán Ó RathailleAogán Ó RathailleAodhagán Ó Rathaille, also spelt Aogán Ó Rathaille or Anglicised as Egan O'Rahilly , was an Irish language poet. He is credited with creating the first fully developed Aisling poem.-Early life:...
(1675–1729) - Seán Ó RíordáinSeán Ó Ríordáin-Life:He was born in Baile Mhúirne, County Cork, the eldest of three children of Seán Ó Ríordáin of Baile Mhúirne and Mairéad Ní Loineacháin of Cúil Ealta....
(1916–1977) - Flann file Ó Ronan/Flann na Marb (fl. 1022)
- Cathal Ó SearcaighCathal Ó SearcaighCathal Ó Searcaigh is an Irish poet who writes in the Irish language .Ó Searcaigh was born in Gort a' Choirce, a town in the Gaeltacht region of Donegal, and lives at the foot of Mount Errigal...
(born 1956) - Seamus O'SullivanSeamus O'SullivanSeumas or Seamus O'Sullivan, real name James Sullivan Starkey, was an Irish poet and editor of The Dublin Magazine. He was born in Dublin and spent his adult life in the suburb of Rathgar...
- Eoghan Ó TuairiscEoghan Ó TuairiscEoghan Ó Tuairisc was an Irish poet and writer.-Life:He was a native of Ballinasloe, County Galway and was educated at Garbally College. His entered St. Patrick’s Teacher Training College, Drumcondra in 1939, graduating with a Diploma in Education in 1945...
(Eugene Watters) (1919–1982) - Frank OrmsbyFrank OrmsbyFrancis Arthur Ormsby is a Northern Irish poet.He was educated at St Michael's College, Enniskillen and Queen's University Belfast. He was editor of The Honest Ulsterman from 1969 to 1989, and has also edited the Poetry Ireland Review. Since 1976 he has been Head of English at the Royal Belfast...
(born 1947) - Tom PaulinTom PaulinThomas Neilson Paulin is a Northern Irish poet and critic of film, music and literature. He lives in England, where he is the GM Young Lecturer in English Literature at Hertford College, Oxford.- Life and work :...
(born 1949) - PH Pearse (1879-1916)
- Joseph Plunkett (1887–1916)
Q–Z
- Cillian Quinn (born 1990)
- Anthony Raferty (c.1784–1834)
- George ReaveyGeorge ReaveyGeorge Reavey was a Russian-born Irish surrealist poet, publisher, translator and art collector. He was also Samuel Beckett's first literary agent. In addition to his own poetry, Reavey's translations and critical prose helped introduce 20th century Russian poetry to an English-speaking audience...
- Lennox RobinsonLennox RobinsonEsmé Stuart Lennox Robinson was an Irish dramatist, poet and theatre producer and director who was involved with the Abbey Theatre....
- Gabriel RosenstockGabriel RosenstockGabriel Rosenstock is an Irish poet, haiku writer, translator and author. He was born in Kilfinane, County Limerick in 1949. He currently resides in Dublin.-Biography:...
(born 1949) - Adam RuddenAdam RuddenAdam Rudden is a Dublin-based Irish Poet. He was born in May 1983. He has been published widely in poetry periodicals. These include: Poetry Ireland Review, Cyphers, Electric Acorn, Jacobyte Poetry, Agenda and Horizons....
(born 1983) - Blanaid SalkeldBlanaid SalkeldBlanaid Salkeld was an Irish poet, dramatist, and actor, whose well-known literary salon was attended by, among others, Patrick Kavanagh and Flann O'Brien...
(1880–1959) - Maurice ScullyMaurice ScullyMaurice Scully is an Irish poet who works in the modernist tradition. Scully was born in Dublin & educated at Trinity College.Scully's books include Love Poems & Others , 5 Freedoms of Movement , Steps , Livelihood , Sonata, , Tig and Humming...
(born 1952) - Eileen ShanahanEileen Shanahan (Irish poet)Eileen Shanahan was one of the small number of Irish women poets. Her best-known poem, The Three Children , was included in the Oxford Book of Irish Verse...
(1901–1979) - James Simmons (1933–2001)
- Michael SmithMichael Smith (poet)Michael Smith is an Irish poet, author and translator.A member of Aosdána, the Irish National Academy of Artists, Michael Smith was the first Writer in-Residence to be appointed by University College, Dublin and is an Honorary Fellow of UCD. He is a poet who has given a lifetime of service to the...
(born 1942) - Geoffrey SquiresGeoffrey SquiresGeoffrey Squires is an Irish poet who works in what might loosely be termed the modernist tradition.-Early life:While born in Derry, he grew up in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland...
(born 1942) - James StephensJames Stephens (author)James Stephens was an Irish novelist and poet.James Stephens wrote many retellings of Irish myths and fairy tales. His retellings are marked by a rare combination of humor and lyricism...
(1880–1950) - Jonathan SwiftJonathan SwiftJonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
(1667–1745) - Colum Patrick Toibin (born 1931)
- Senchán TorpéistSenchán TorpéistSenchán Torpéist, Gaelic-Irish poet of Ireland, -Background:Seanchan Torpest was the Chief Poet of Connacht in 598 AD when he succeeded Dallán Forgaill as Chief Ollam of Ireland...
(fl. c. 580 – c.650) - Katherine Tynan (1861–1931)
- Uallach ni Muimnechaid (d. c. 934)
- William WallWilliam WallWilliam "Bill" Wall is an Irish novelist, poet and short story writer. He was born in Cork City in 1955, but grew up in the coastal village of Whitegate. He received his secondary education at the Christian Brothers School in Midleton. He progressed to University College Cork where he graduated in...
(born 1955) - Catherine WalshCatherine Walsh (poet)Catherine Walsh is an Irish poet. She was born in Dublin, and grew up there and in rural Wexford. She is the founder and co-editor of hardPressed Poetry with Billy Mills...
(born 1964) - Jane WildeJane WildeJane Francesca Agnes, Lady Wilde was an Irish poet under the pen name "Speranza" and supporter of the nationalist movement; had a special interest on Irish Fairy Tales, which she helped to gather...
- Oscar WildeOscar WildeOscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
(1845–1900) - James WillsJames WillsJames Wills, , was an Irish writer and poet.Wills was born in County Roscommon, the younger son of a landowner. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and studied law in the Middle Temple, London...
(1790–1868) - W. B. Yeats (1865–1939)
- Augustus YoungAugustus YoungFor the U.S. Representative from Vermont, see Augustus Young .Augustus Young is an Irish poet.-Biography:Young worked in London as an epidemiologist and adviser to health authorities, and now lives in France...
(born 1943)
A–D
- Samuel BeckettSamuel BeckettSamuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
(1906–1989) - Gerard BeirneGerard BeirneGerard Beirne is an Irish author currently living in Canada.His novel The Eskimo in the Net was published by Marion Boyars in 2003 and was short-listed for the 2004 Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award...
(born 1962) - Elizabeth BowenElizabeth BowenElizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen, CBE was an Irish novelist and short story writer.-Life:Elizabeth Bowen was born on 7 June 1899 at 15 Herbert Place in Dublin, Ireland and was baptized in the nearby St Stephen's Church on Upper Mount Street...
(1899–1973) - Clare BoylanClare BoylanClare Boylan was an Irish author, journalist and critic for newspapers, magazines and many international broadcast media....
(1948–2006) - Patrick BoylePatrick Boyle (writer)Patrick Boyle was an Irish novelist.Boyle was born in 1905 in Ballymoney, Co. Antrim. He worked for the Ulster Bank in Donegal and Wexford. He began writing when he was in his forties. His first collection of short stories, At Night All Cats are Grey, was published in 1966. He also wrote a novel,...
(1905–1982) - John BoyneJohn BoyneJohn Boyne is an Irish novelist.- Biography :He was educated at Terenure College, before heading to trinity college, dublin, and studied Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, where he won the Curtis Brown prize. But it was during his time at Trinity that he began to get published...
(born 1971) - Maeve BrennanMaeve BrennanMaeve Brennan , was an Irish short story writer and journalist. She moved to the United States in 1934 when her father was appointed to the Irish Legation in Washington. She was an important figure in both Irish diaspora writing and in Irish writing itself...
(1917–1993) - Joyce CaryJoyce CaryJoyce Cary was an Anglo-Irish novelist and artist.-Youth and education:...
(1888–1957) - William CarletonWilliam CarletonWilliam Carleton was an Irish novelist.Carleton's father was a Roman Catholic tenant farmer, who supported fourteen children on as many acres, and young Carleton passed his early life among scenes similar to those he later described in his books...
(1794–1849) - Patrick ChapmanPatrick ChapmanPatrick Chapman is an Irish poet, writer and screenwriter, born in 1968. His poetry collections include:* Jazztown, * The New Pornography Patrick Chapman is an Irish poet, writer and screenwriter, born in 1968. His poetry collections include:* Jazztown, (Raven Arts Press, 1991)* The New Pornography...
(born 1968) - Padraic ColumPadraic ColumPadraic Colum was an Irish poet, novelist, dramatist, biographer, playwright, children's author and collector of folklore. He was one of the leading figures of the Celtic Revival.-Early life:...
(1881–1972) - Daniel Corkery (1878–1964)
- Ita Daly (born 1944)
- Anne Devlin (writer)Anne Devlin (writer)Anne Devlin is a short story writer, playwright and screenwriter born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She was a teacher from 1974 - 1978 and started writing fiction in 1976 in Germany...
(born 1951) - Lord Dunsany (1878–1957)
E–L
- Maria EdgeworthMaria EdgeworthMaria Edgeworth was a prolific Anglo-Irish writer of adults' and children's literature. She was one of the first realist writers in children's literature and was a significant figure in the evolution of the novel in Europe...
(1767–1849) - Brian FrielBrian FrielBrian Friel is an Irish dramatist, author and director of the Field Day Theatre Company. He is considered to be the greatest living English-language dramatist, hailed by the English-speaking world as an "Irish Chekhov" and "the universally accented voice of Ireland"...
(born 1929) - Frank GallagherFrank Gallagher (author)Frank B. Gallagher was an Irish author and Volunteer.-Biography:A Cork native, initially London correspondent of William O'Brien's Cork Free Press, subsequently its final editor, though himself a separatist, personally admired O'Brien.The paper suffered closure in 1916 soon after the appointment...
(1893–1962) - Gerald GriffinGerald GriffinGerald Griffin was an Irish novelist, poet and playwright.-Biography:He was born in Limerick, Ireland, the son of a brewer. He went to London in 1823 and became a reporter for one of the daily papers, and later turned to writing fiction...
(1803–1840) - Aidan HigginsAidan Higgins-Life:His upbringing in a landed Catholic family in Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland, provided material for his first experimental novel, Langrishe, Go Down...
(born 1927) - Desmond HoganDesmond HoganDesmond Hogan is an Irish writer.Hogan was born in Ballinasloe in east County Galway, Ireland. His father was a draper. Educated locally at St. Grellan’s Boys’ National School and St. Josephs’s College, Garbally Park...
(born 1951) - John JordanJohn Jordan (poet)John Jordan was an Irish poet born in Dublin on 8 April 1930. He was educated at Synge Street CBS, University College, Dublin and Pembroke College, Oxford. In his teens he acted on the stage of the Gate Theatre, Dublin, before winning a Scholarship in English and French to Oxford University from...
(1930–1988) - Neil JordanNeil JordanNeil Patrick Jordan is an Irish filmmaker and novelist. He won an Academy Award for The Crying Game.- Early life :...
(born 1950) - James JoyceJames JoyceJames Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
(1882–1941) - Claire KeeganClaire KeeganClaire Keegan is an Irish short story writer. She was born in County Wicklow in 1968, the youngest of a large Roman Catholic family. She travelled to New Orleans, Louisiana when she was seventeen and studied English and Political Science at Loyola University...
(born 1969) - Maeve KellyMaeve Kelly-Career:Kelly was born in Ennis, County Clare and raised in Dundalk, County Louth. She settled in Limerick and studied nursing at St. Andrew's Hospital in London. She has written novels, short stories and poems, often dealing with women's struggle for equal rights. She received a Hennessy Lit....
(born 1930) - Benedict KielyBenedict KielyBenedict "Ben" Kiely was an Irish author and broadcaster from Omagh, County Tyrone, Ireland.-Early life:Benedict Kiely was born in Dromore, County Tyrone to Thomas John and Sara Alice Kiely. He was the youngest of six children, the others were Rita, Gerald, Eileen, Kathleen and Macartan; four of...
(1919–2007) - David M. KielyDavid M. KielyDavid M. Kiely is a writer of fiction and non-fiction. Having worked in advertising in several countries, he returned to Ireland in 1991, to take up writing full time. His first book was published in 1994...
(born 1949) - Mary LavinMary LavinMary Josephine Lavin was a noted Irish short story writer and novelist. She is regarded as a pioneering female author in the traditionally male-dominated world of Irish letters. Her subject matter often dealt explicitly with feminist issues and concerns at a time when the primacy of the Roman...
(1912–1996) - Edmund Leamy (1848–1904)
- Sheridan Le FanuSheridan Le FanuJoseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the leading ghost-story writer of the nineteenth century and was central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era....
(1814–1873)
M–O
- Walter MackenWalter MackenWalter Macken , was born in Galway, Ireland. He was a writer of short stories, novels and plays. Originally an actor, principally with the Taibhdhearc in Galway, and The Abbey Theatre, he played lead roles on Broadway in M.J. Molloy's The King of Friday's Men and his own play Home Is the Hero...
(1915–1967) - John MacKennaJohn MacKennaJohn MacKenna is an Irish playwright and novelist.MacKenna taught for a number of years before working as a producer at RTÉ Radio in 1980...
(born 1952) - Bernard MacLavertyBernard MacLavertyBernard MacLaverty is a writer of fiction. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 14 September 1942, and lived there until 1975 when he moved to Scotland with his wife, Madeline, and four children...
(born 1942) - Michael MacLavertyMichael MacLavertyMichael McLaverty was an Irish writer of novels and short stories.-Background:Michael McLaverty was born in County Monaghan and then moved as a child to the Beechmount area of Belfast He attended St Gall's School and then went to College and became a school teacher. Michael McLaverty worked as a...
(1907–1992) - Bryan MacMahonBryan MacMahon (writer)Bryan MacMahon was an Irish playwright, novelist and short story writer from Listowel, County Kerry. A schoolteacher by training, his works include The Lion Tamer and The Red Petticoat...
(1909–1998) - Ian Macpherson (born 1951), comedy writer
- Aidan Mathews (born 1956)
- Eugene McCabeEugene McCabeEugene McCabe is an Irish novelist, short story writer, playwright and television screenwriter. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, to Irish emigrants, but moved with his family to Ireland in the early 1940s. He lives on a farm near Clones in County Monaghan near the border between the Republic of...
(born 1930) - John McGahernJohn McGahernJohn McGahern was one of the most important Irish authors of the latter half of the twentieth century. Before his death in 2006 he was hailed as "the greatest living Irish novelist" by The Observer.-Life:...
(1934–2006) - John MontagueJohn Montague (poet)John Montague is an Irish poet. He was born in New York and brought up in Tyrone. He has published a number of volumes of poetry, two collections of short stories and two volumes of memoir. He is one of the best known Irish contemporary poets...
(born 1929) - Violet Florence MartinViolet Florence MartinViolet Florence Martin was an Irish author who co-wrote a series of novels with cousin Edith Somerville under the pen name of Martin Ross in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.- Early life :...
(1862–1923) of Somerville and RossSomerville and RossSomerville and Ross were an Anglo-Irish writing team, perhaps most famous for their series of books that were made into the TV series The Irish R.M.....
partnership - George A. Moore (1852–1933)
- Val Mulkerns (born 1925)
- Edna O'BrienEdna O'BrienEdna O'Brien is an Irish novelist and short story writer whose works often revolve around the inner feelings of women, and their problems in relating to men and to society as a whole.-Life and career:...
(born 1932) - Kate Cruise O'BrienKate Cruise O'BrienKate Cruise O'Brien was an Irish writer.The third and youngest child of the politician and diplomat Conor Cruise O'Brien, she was born in Dublin, and grew up in Howth. She went to school in Dublin and studied English in Trinity College Dublin...
(born 1948) - Máirtín Ó CadhainMáirtín Ó CadhainMáirtín Ó Cadhain was one of the most prominent Irish language writers of the twentieth century.-Career:Born in Connemara, he became a schoolteacher but was dismissed due to his IRA membership. In the 1930s he served as an IRA recruiting officer, enlisting fellow writer Brendan Behan...
(1906–1970) - Pádraic Ó ConairePádraic Ó ConairePádraic Ó Conaire was an Irish writer and journalist whose production was primarily in the Irish language.-Life:Ó Conaire was born in Galway in 1882. His father was a publican, who owned two premises in the town...
(1882–1928) - Frank O'ConnorFrank O'ConnorFrank O’Connor was an Irish author of over 150 works, best known for his short stories and memoirs.-Early life:...
(1903–1966) - Julia O'FaolainJulia O'FaolainJulia O'Faolain is an Irish novelist and short story writer. Her parents were Irish writers Seán Ó Faoláin and Eileen Gould....
(1933) - Sean O'Faolain (1900–1990)
- Liam O'FlahertyLiam O'FlahertyLiam O'Flaherty was a significant Irish novelist and short story writer and a major figure in the Irish literary renaissance, born August 28, 1896, died September 7, 1984.-Biography:...
(1896–1984) - Seamus O'Kelly (1881–1918)
P–Z
- PH Pearse (1879-1916)
- James PlunkettJames PlunkettJames Plunkett Kelly, or James Plunkett , was an Irish writer. He was educated at Synge Street CBS.Plunkett grew up among the Dublin working class and they, along with the petty bourgeoisie and lower intelligentsia, make up the bulk of the dramatis personae of his oeuvre...
(1920–2003) - Lennox RobinsonLennox RobinsonEsmé Stuart Lennox Robinson was an Irish dramatist, poet and theatre producer and director who was involved with the Abbey Theatre....
- Somerville and RossSomerville and RossSomerville and Ross were an Anglo-Irish writing team, perhaps most famous for their series of books that were made into the TV series The Irish R.M.....
(1858–1949) and (1862–1915) - James StephensJames Stephens (author)James Stephens was an Irish novelist and poet.James Stephens wrote many retellings of Irish myths and fairy tales. His retellings are marked by a rare combination of humor and lyricism...
(1882–1950) - William TrevorWilliam TrevorWilliam Trevor, KBE is an Irish author and playwright. He is considered one of the elder statesman of the Irish literary world and widely regarded as the greatest contemporary writer of short stories in the English language....
(born 1928) - Colm TóibínColm TóibínColm Tóibín is a multi-award-winning Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic, and, most recently, poet.Tóibín is Leonard Milberg Lecturer in Irish Letters at Princeton University in New Jersey and succeeded Martin Amis as professor of creative writing at the...
(born 1955) - William WallWilliam WallWilliam "Bill" Wall is an Irish novelist, poet and short story writer. He was born in Cork City in 1955, but grew up in the coastal village of Whitegate. He received his secondary education at the Christian Brothers School in Midleton. He progressed to University College Cork where he graduated in...
(born 1955) - Oscar WildeOscar WildeOscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
(1854–1900)
Writers on gardening
- Diarmuid GavinDiarmuid GavinDiarmuid Gavin is an Irish garden designer and television personality. He is married to Justine Keane, daughter of The Hon. Ronan Keane, the former Chief Justice of Ireland, and Terry Keane, and they have a daughter named Eppie born December 2004.-Early life:When he was six, his younger brother...
(born 10 May 1964) - Dermot O'NeillDermot O'Neill (gardener)Dermot O'Neill is a well known Irish gardener and editor of Garden Heaven magazine, who has appeared on many radio and television programmes for both RTÉ and the BBC Northern Ireland and has contributed regular columns for the RTÉ Guide and numerous Irish newspapers and magazines including The...
Writers on morality and ethics
- Richard Baptist O'Brien (1809–1885)
- Fintan O'TooleFintan O'TooleFintan O'Toole is a columnist, assistant editor and drama critic for The Irish Times. He has written for The Irish Times since 1988 and was drama critic for the New York Daily News from 1997 to 2001. He is a literary critic, historical writer and political commentator, with generally left-wing views...
(born 1958) - John Waters (columnist)John Waters (columnist)John Waters is a columnist with The Irish Times and a former editor of Magill magazine. His career began in 1981 with the Irish political-music magazine Hot Press. He went on to write for the Sunday Tribune and later edited In Dublin magazine and Magill...
(born 1949) - William ThompsonWilliam Thompson (philosopher)William Thompson was an Irish political and philosophical writer and social reformer, developing from utilitarianism into an early critic of capitalist exploitation whose ideas influenced the Cooperative, Trade Union and Chartist movements as well as Karl Marx...
(1775-1833)
Writers on women's issues
- Maeve KellyMaeve Kelly-Career:Kelly was born in Ennis, County Clare and raised in Dundalk, County Louth. She settled in Limerick and studied nursing at St. Andrew's Hospital in London. She has written novels, short stories and poems, often dealing with women's struggle for equal rights. She received a Hennessy Lit....
(born 1930) - Nell McCaffertyNell McCaffertyNell McCafferty is an Irish journalist, playwright, civil rights campaigner and feminist. In her journalistic work she has written for The Irish Press, The Irish Times, Sunday Tribune, Hot Press and The Village Voice....
(Born 1944) - William ThompsonWilliam Thompson (philosopher)William Thompson was an Irish political and philosophical writer and social reformer, developing from utilitarianism into an early critic of capitalist exploitation whose ideas influenced the Cooperative, Trade Union and Chartist movements as well as Karl Marx...
(1775-1833) - John Waters (columnist)John Waters (columnist)John Waters is a columnist with The Irish Times and a former editor of Magill magazine. His career began in 1981 with the Irish political-music magazine Hot Press. He went on to write for the Sunday Tribune and later edited In Dublin magazine and Magill...
(born 1949)
Other writers
- Seathrún CéitinnGeoffrey KeatingSeathrún Céitinn, known in English as Geoffrey Keating, was a 17th century Irish Roman Catholic priest, poet and historian. He was born in County Tipperary c. 1569, and died c. 1644...
(Geoffrey Keating) (c.1569-c.1644) - Brian FarrellBrian FarrellBrian Farrell is an Irish author, journalist, academic & broadcaster.-Early life:Although born in Manchester, England, Farrell moved to Dublin, Ireland during the Second World War. He was educated in Ireland at , Dublin, University College Dublin and Harvard University in the United States...
- Roy FosterRoy FosterRoy Foster may refer to:*Roy Foster *Roy Foster *R. F. Foster...
- Gerard Anthony Hayes-McCoyGerard Anthony Hayes-McCoyGerard A. Hayes-McCoy was an Irish historian born in Galway. He attended University College Galway and served as auditor of the College's Literary and Debating Society in the 1931/1932 academic year...
(1911-1975) - Gene KerriganGene KerriganGene Kerrigan is an Irish journalist and novelist who grew up in Cabra in Dublin. His works include political commentary on Ireland since the 1970s in such publications as Magill magazine and the Sunday Independent newspaper. He has also written about Ireland for International Socialism magazine...
- F. S. L. LyonsF. S. L. LyonsFrancis Stewart Leland Lyons was one of Ireland's premier historians.-Biography:Lyons was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, in 1923, but soon moved to Boyle in County Roscommon where his father was a bank official...
(1923–1983) - Edward MacLysaghtEdward MacLysaghtEdward MacLysaght was one of the foremost genealogists of twentieth century Ireland. His numerous books on Irish surnames built upon the work of Patrick Woulfe's Irish Names and Surnames and made him well known to all those researching their family past.-Early life:Edward was born in Flax Bourton...
(1887-1986) - John A. MurphyJohn A. MurphyJohn A. Murphy is an Irish historian and a former senator. He is currently Emeritus Professor of history at University College Cork ....
- George O'BrienGeorge O'Brien (writer)George O'Brien is an award-winning Irish memoirist, writer, and academic.-Life:O'Brien was raised by his paternal grandmother in Lismore, County Waterford after his mother died. He was educated at St. Augustine College, in Dungarvan. In 1962, he moved to Dublin to live with his father and stepmother...
(born 1945) - Tomás Ó CriomhthainTomás Ó CriomhthainTomás Ó Criomhthain was a native of the Irish-speaking Great Blasket Island off the coast of County Kerry in Ireland. He wrote two books, Allagar na h-Inise written over the period 1918–23 and published in 1928, and , completed in 1923 and published in 1929...
(1856-1937) - John O'HartJohn O'HartJohn O'Hart was an Irish genealogist. He was born in Crossmolina, Co. Mayo, Ireland. A committed Roman Catholic, O'Hart originally planned to become Catholic priest but instead spent 2 years as a police officer. He was an Associate in Arts at the Queen's University of Belfast...
(1824-1902) - Muiris Ó SúilleabháinMuiris Ó SúilleabháinMuiris Ó Súilleabháin became famous for his memoir of growing up on the Great Blasket Island off the western coast of Ireland, Fiche Bliain ag Fás , published in Irish and English in 1933...
(1904-1950) - Peig SayersPeig SayersPeig Sayers was an Irish author and seanachaí born in Dunquin , County Kerry, Ireland. Seán Ó Súilleabháin, the former archivist for the Irish Folklore Commission, described her as "one of the greatest woman storytellers of recent times".-Biography:She spent much of her early life as a domestic...
(1873-1958) - Maev-Ann WrenMaev-Ann WrenMaev-Ann Wren is an Irish economist, journalist, author and former economics editor of the Irish Times newspaper. She has written two books about the Irish health system and her writings have often been mentioned during Dáil and Seanad debates, and in parliamentary committee...
, author
See also
- Irish literatureIrish literatureFor a comparatively small island, Ireland has made a disproportionately large contribution to world literature. Irish literature encompasses the Irish and English languages.-The beginning of writing in Irish:...
- Irish Historians
- List of Irish historians