Liam O'Flaherty

Liam O'Flaherty (Inis Mór, 1896 – Dublin, 1984) was an Irish novelist and short-story writer and one of the leading socialist writers of the early twentieth century. He was a central figure of the Irish Literary Revival, and although he wrote mostly in English, he also produced important work in Irish, a language his father had discouraged at home.

He was born at Gort na gCapall on the island of Inishmore, into a poor family. He was educated at several schools in Ireland and in 1917 enlisted in the Irish Guards of the British Army. He fought on the Western Front, was wounded, and the experience left lasting damage to his mental health. After the war he came back to Ireland with socialist convictions, helped found the first Communist Party of Ireland, and in 1922 held Dublin's Rotunda Concert Hall for four days in protest at unemployment.

After the civil war he spent long periods in London, the United States and continental Europe. His first novel, Thy Neighbour's Wife, appeared in 1923, and in 1925 he published The Informer, which brought him fame and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. His style is direct and often harsh. He wrote about ordinary people, poverty, violence and political conflict, and in the 1920s he drew on Expressionism. Some of his novels were banned by the Irish Free State. In 1930 he travelled to the Soviet Union, and the experience produced a critical satire.

In his final years he wrote Dúil, a collection of stories in Irish that many regard as his best work in that language. He died in Dublin in 1984. His legacy rests largely on his short stories, such as The Sniper, and on his portrait of rural Ireland and the conflicts that shaped it.