Born in 1934, John McGahern was the eldest of seven children raised on a farm in the West of Ireland. in 1965 he was dismissed as a teacher when his second novel The Dark was banned for 'obscene' content. The author of six acclaimed novels and four story collections, he was shortlisted for the 1990 Booker Prize for Amongst Women and awarded the Irish PEN Award, the Prix Ecureuil de Littérature Etrangère and the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He died in 2006.

Born in 1934, John McGahern was the eldest of seven children raised on a farm in the West of Ireland. in 1965 he was dismissed as a teacher when his second novel The Dark was banned for 'obscene' content. The author of six acclaimed novels and four story collections, he was shortlisted for the 1990 Booker Prize for Amongst Women and awarded the Irish PEN Award, the Prix Ecureuil de Littérature Etrangère and the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He died in 2006.

Born in 1934, John McGahern was the eldest of seven children raised on a farm in the West of Ireland. in 1965 he was dismissed as a teacher when his second novel The Dark was banned for 'obscene' content. The author of six acclaimed novels and four story collections, he was shortlisted for the 1990 Booker Prize for Amongst Women and awarded the Irish PEN Award, the Prix Ecureuil de Littérature Etrangère and the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He died in 2006.