Seán Ó Faoláin

Born John Francis Whelan in Cork, he later adopted the anglicised version of his name in Irish. Ó Faoláin studied at University College, Cork, and Harvard University and taught in the US in the 1930s. He took part in the Irish war of independence and sided with the Republicans during the Civil War. Ó Faoláin was a founder member and, between 1940 and 1946, editor of the literary journal, The Bell, to which some of Ireland's most eminent writers of the time contributed, Patrick Kavanagh, Brendan Behan and Flann O'Brien among them. From 1957 to 1959, he was director of the Arts Council, and in 1986 he received Aosdána's highest accolade when he was elected Saoi. Ó Faoláin is best known as a short story writer and his collections are numerous. They include Midsummer Night Madness (1932), A Purse of Coppers (1937), The Heat of the Sun and Collected Stories (1982). He has also published serveral novels and biographies of Constance Markiewicz, Daniel O'Connell and Eamon de Valera. His autobiography, Vive Moi!, was published in 1964. Seán Ó Faoláin died in Dublin in 1991.