James Hanley

James (Joseph) Hanley was a British novelist, short story writer, and playwright from Kirkdale, Liverpool, Lancashire, of Irish descent. Hanley came from a seafaring family and spent two years at sea himself, during World War I. He published his first novel Drift in 1930. His early novels and short stories focussed on seamen and their families, and included Boy (1931), the subject of an obscenity trial. After World War II there was less emphasis on the sea in his works. While frequently praised by critics, Hanley's novels did not sell well. He later wrote plays, mainly for the BBC, for radio, and then for television, and also for the theatre. He returned to the novel in the 1970s. His last novel, A Kingdom (1978), was published when he was eighty.