Liam O'Flaherty

Liam O'Flaherty was born at Gort na gCapall, Inishmór, the largest of the Aran Islands, in 1896. He began his education on the island; however, when he was 12, a visiting Holy Ghost priest arranged schooling for him at Rockwell College, County Tipperary, Blackrock College, Dublin, and then, University College Dublin.

During World War I he joined the Irish Guards and was sent to the trenches in France. In 1917, he was badly wounded by a German shell, an experience that would haunt him his entire life.

He had a colourful life travelling as a sailor to South America, Turkey and then Canada. He held a variety of odd jobs, including deck-hand, beachcomber and lumberjack, and for a while, he was even a hobo. In 1920, he crossed illegally into the USA and joined the Communist Party.

He returned to Ireland in 1921 and formed a revolutionary socialist army which became involved in the Irish Civil War; however, Ireland was too Catholic and too conservative for such radical politics. Thus Liam was forced to flee and settled in London where he began writing short stories and novels.

For decades, the volume and depth of O’Flaherty writing would be astonishing. O’Flaherty succeeded in depicting the unrelenting harshness of Irish peasantry life prior to the arrival of modernity. His work, often considered anti-establishment and dangerous, was banned in Ireland during his lifetime.

His main works include the novels Famine, The Informer, Thy Neighbour's Wife, The Black Soul, The Assassin, and Skerret. His short story collections include The Short Stories of Liam O'Flaherty; Two Lovely Beasts and Other Stories and The Pedlar's Revenge and Other Stories. The Informer which was first published in 1924 was later made into a movie by his famous cousin, John Ford.

Liam visited the Aran Isles for the last time in 1983. He died the following year on September 7th. He was 88 years old.

A lovely new edition of Famine was released in 2004 and the latest edition of The Informer is available in all good bookshops.