Literature

Tom (Thomas) Murphy

Born in Tuam, Co. Galway, in 1935, Tom Murphy worked as a metalworker and a teacher before writing full-time.

His plays – many of which were produced at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin and the Druid Theatre, Galway – include On the Outside (1959, with Noel O’Donoghue), A Whistle in the Dark (1961), Famine (1968), A Crucial Week in the Life of a Grocer’s Assistant (1969), The Morning After Optimism (1971), On the Inside (1974), The Sanctuary Lamp (1976), The Blue Macushla (1980), The Informer, She Stoops to Folly/The Vicar of Wakefield (1995), The Gigli Concert (1983), Bailegangaire (1985), Conversations on a Homecoming (1985), A Thief of Christmas (1985), The Patriot Game (1991), Too Late for Logic (1989), The Wake (1998) and The House (2000), The Drunkard (2003), The Cherry Orchard (2004) and Alice Trilogy (2005).

A novel, The Seduction of Morality appeared in 2004. He was a member of the Irish Academy of Letters. Numerous awards; honorary doctorates: Trinity College Dublin and NUI (Galway). He was elected Saoi of Aosdána in 2017. At a ceremony presided over by President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins on 4th September 2017 he was presented with the symbol of the office of Saoi, the gold Torc.

 

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