One Day in My Life
Encyclopedia
One Day in My Life is an autobiographical novel
written by Bobby Sands
while serving a fourteen year sentence at Long Kesh
, for possession of a gun as a member of the Irish Republican Army
.
The novel was originally written on "toilet paper with a biro
refill... hidden inside Sands' own body" during the winter of 1979. and first published in 1983. It recounts Sands' mental, physical, and sectarian struggles over a single day while he was taking part in the blanket protest
against the removal of prisoners' political status
by the British Government.
Autobiographical novel
An autobiographical novel is a form of novel using autofiction techniques, or the merging of autobiographical and fiction elements. The literary technique is distinguished from an autobiography or memoir by the stipulation of being fiction...
written by Bobby Sands
Bobby Sands
Robert Gerard "Bobby" Sands was an Irish volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and member of the United Kingdom Parliament who died on hunger strike while imprisoned in HM Prison Maze....
while serving a fourteen year sentence at Long Kesh
Maze (HM Prison)
Her Majesty's Prison Maze was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from mid-1971 to mid-2000....
, for possession of a gun as a member of the Irish Republican Army
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
.
The novel was originally written on "toilet paper with a biro
Ballpoint pen
A ballpoint pen is a writing instrument with an internal ink reservoir and a sphere for a point. The internal chamber is filled with a viscous ink that is dispensed at its tip during use by the rolling action of a small sphere...
refill... hidden inside Sands' own body" during the winter of 1979. and first published in 1983. It recounts Sands' mental, physical, and sectarian struggles over a single day while he was taking part in the blanket protest
Blanket protest
The blanket protest was part of a five year protest during the Troubles by Provisional Irish Republican Army and Irish National Liberation Army prisoners held in the Maze prison in Northern Ireland. The republican prisoners' status as political prisoners, known as Special Category Status, had...
against the removal of prisoners' political status
Special Category Status
In July 1972, William Whitelaw, the British government's Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, granted Special Category Status to all prisoners convicted of Troubles-related offences...
by the British Government.