George O'Brien (writer)

Last updated

George O'Brien
Born (1945-02-14) February 14, 1945 (age 78)
Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland
NationalityIrish
GenreNon-fiction

George O'Brien (born 14 February 1945 in Enniscorthy, County Wexford) is an Irish memoirist, writer, and academic.

Contents

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. He graduated as an electronic engineer from the College of Technology, Kevin Street, Dublin Institute of Technology and worked as an apprentice photographer. He moved to London where he worked as a barman, clerk and encyclopaedia salesman. He continued his education at Ruskin College, Oxford in 1968, then moved to Warwick University in 1970 where he graduated with a BA in English and American Literature in 1973, and earned a PhD in 1980. [1]

O'Brien taught at the University of Birmingham (1974) and at Clare College, Cambridge (1975), then lectured at Warwick University (1976–1980). He crossed the Atlantic where he was visiting assistant professor at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie (1980–1984), and then became associate professor, then professor of English at Georgetown University in Washington (1984–present). [1]

Works

His memoirs include The Village of Longing: An Irish Boyhood in the Fifties (1987); Dancehall Days, or Love in Dublin (1988); and Out of Our Minds (1994). He has written studies of Irish playwright Brian Friel, co-edited The Ireland Anthology with Sean Dunne, and received the Irish Book Awards silver medal, and the John Eddeyrn Hughes Prize for The Village of Longing. O'Brien has also written occasional literary journalism for the Irish Times. [1]

Resources

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flann O'Brien</span> Irish writer

Brian O'Nolan, better known by his pen name Flann O'Brien, was an Irish civil service official, novelist, playwright and satirist, who is now considered a major figure in twentieth-century Irish literature. Born in Strabane, County Tyrone, he is regarded as a key figure in modernist and postmodern literature. His English language novels, such as At Swim-Two-Birds and The Third Policeman, were written under the O’Brien pen name. His many satirical columns in The Irish Times and an Irish-language novel, An Béal Bocht, were written under the name Myles na gCopaleen.

Professor Frank McGuinness is an Irish writer. As well as his own plays, which include The Factory Girls, Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme, Someone Who'll Watch Over Me and Dolly West's Kitchen, he is recognised for a "strong record of adapting literary classics, having translated the plays of Racine, Sophocles, Ibsen, Garcia Lorca, and Strindberg to critical acclaim". He has also published six collections of poetry, and two novels. McGuinness was Professor of Creative Writing at University College Dublin (UCD) from 2007 to 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edna O'Brien</span> Irish writer

Josephine Edna O'Brien is an Irish novelist, memoirist, playwright, poet and short-story writer. Elected to Aosdána by her fellow artists, she was honoured with the title Saoi in 2015 and the biennial "UK and Ireland Nobel" David Cohen Prize in 2019, whilst France made her Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colm Tóibín</span> Irish novelist and writer

Colm Tóibín is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist, critic, playwright and poet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carysfort College</span> Teachers college in Dublin, Ireland

Our Lady of Mercy College, Carysfort was a College of Education in Dublin, Ireland from its foundation in 1877 until its closure in 1988. Educating primary school teachers, and located in a parkland campus in Blackrock, it was a recognised college of the National University of Ireland from April 1975. The site is now the premises of the Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, part of University College Dublin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kate O'Brien (novelist)</span> Irish novelist, playwright and activist

Kate O'Brien was an Irish novelist and playwright.

Paul Durcan is a contemporary Irish poet.

Brendan O'Brien was once a journalist on RTÉ One's Prime Time current affairs programme, he worked for RTE from 1973 until 2002.

Timothy Brendan Kennelly, usually known as Brendan Kennelly, was an Irish poet and novelist. He was Professor of Modern Literature at Trinity College Dublin until 2005. Following his retirement he was a Professor Emeritus at Trinity College.

David Dabydeen is a Guyanese-born broadcaster, novelist, poet and academic. He was formerly Guyana's Ambassador to UNESCO from 1997 to 2010 and the youngest Member of the UNESCO Executive Board (1993–1997), elected by the General Council of all Member States of UNESCO. He was appointed Guyana's Ambassador Plenipotentiary and Extraordinaire to China, from 2010 to 2015. He is one of the longest serving diplomats in the history of Guyana, most of his work done in a voluntary unpaid capacity.

Peter Costello is an author and editor, described by the American critic Robert Hogan in the Greenwood Dictionary of Irish Literature as “a contemporary embodiment” of the “tradition in Irish literature of the independent scholar, who has an erudition embarrassing to the professional academic”.

John Benignus Lyons, better known as J. B. Lyons and widely known as Jack Lyons, was an Irish physician, medical historian, writer, and professor of medical history. He was described as "one of the foremost Irish medical writers of the twentieth century".

The Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award is an Irish poetry award for a collection of poems by an author who has not previously been published in collected form. It is confined to poets born on the island of Ireland, or who have Irish nationality, or are long-term residents of Ireland. It is based on an open competition whose closing date is in July each year. The award was founded by the Patrick Kavanagh Society in 1971 to commemorate the poet.

Micheal O'Siadhail is an Irish poet. Among his awards are The Marten Toonder Prize and The Irish American Culture Institute Prize for Literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Restak</span> American neurologist, neuropsychiatrist, author and professor

Richard Restak is an American neurologist, neuropsychiatrist, author and professor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isle of Innisfree</span>

The "Isle of Innisfree" is a song composed by Dick Farrelly, who wrote both the music and lyrics. Farrelly got the inspiration for "Isle of Innisfree", the song for which he is best remembered, while on a bus journey from his native Kells, County Meath to Dublin. The song was published in 1950 by the Peter Maurice Music Publishing Co.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Gwynn (Syriacist)</span>

John Gwynn was an Irish Syriacist. He was Regius Professor of Divinity at Trinity College Dublin from 1888 to 1907.

Kevin Hjortshøj O'Rourke, is an Irish economist and historian, who specialises in economic history and international economics. Since 2019, he has been Professor of Economics at New York University Abu Dhabi. He was Professor of Economics at Trinity College, Dublin from 2000 to 2011, and had previously taught at Columbia University and University College, Dublin. From 2011 to 2019, he was Chichele Professor of Economic History at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colm Keane</span> Irish author, broadcaster, and journalist (1951–2022)

Colm Keane was an Irish author, broadcaster and journalist. Originally from County Cork, he studied economics at Trinity College in Dublin and Georgetown University in Washington D.C. He joined Raidió Teilifís Éireann as a broadcaster in the late 1970s, and produced and contributed to several shows with a current affairs and documentary focus. After his retirement from broadcasting in 2003, Keane became a full-time writer, authoring 29 books, including eight Irish best-sellers.

Eoin O'Brien LRCP&SI, FRCP, FRCP, is an Irish clinical scientist. He has published extensively on hypertension as one of the major causes of death and disability in society.. Alongside his medical career, O'Brien has contributed to the field of literary criticism and biography. He has written books on writers and artists including Samuel Beckett, Nevill Johnson and Con Leventhal.

References