Literature

John McGahern

John McGahern was born in Dublin in 1934 and raised in Leitrim and Roscommon. His novels included The Barracks (London, Faber & Faber, 1963); The Dark (Faber & Faber, 1965); The Leavetaking (Faber & Faber, 1975) The Pornographer (Faber & Faber, 1980), Amongst Women (Faber & Faber, 1990) and That They May Face the Rising Sun (Faber & Faber, 2001). He published his much acclaimed Memoir in 2005 and very recently (2006) this was re-published in the States to extraordinary commendation under the title All Will be Well.
His short story collections were Nightlines (Faber & Faber, 1970); and High Ground (Faber & Faber, 1985) which were collected and published as The Collected Stories (Faber & Faber, 1992).
He wrote plays for radio, including Sinclair (1971); and for television, including Swallows (1975), and The Rockingham Shoot (1987). His stage play, The Power of Darkness, was produced by the Abbey Theatre (Dublin, 1991). He received many awards, including the Æ Award (1962); the Macaulay Fellowship (1964); The Arts Council of Great Britain Awards (1966, 68,71,78); the Society of Authors Travelling Fellowship (1975); The Arts Council/ An Chomhairle Ealaíon Award (1980); The Irish American Foundation Award (1985); Chevalier d’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1989); The Irish Times/Aer Lingus Literary Award (1990); the Hughes & Hughes Award (1980); the GPA Award (1992); and the Prix Étranger Ecureuil (1994). He was short-listed for the Booker Prize in 1990 for Amongst Women. His work has been translated into many languages.

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