John McGahern

1934–2006

Irish novelist and short-story writer whose fiction examines family, faith and rural life in mid-twentieth-century Ireland. Born in Dublin and raised in County Leitrim, he trained as a teacher and taught in Clontarf until his second novel, The Dark, was banned by the Irish censor and he lost his post. He later settled on a small farm in Leitrim. His novels include The Barracks, The Leavetaking, The Pornographer and That They May Face the Rising Sun. He died in March 2006. Amongst Women, about an ageing republican veteran and his family, was shortlisted for the 1990 Booker Prize.

Timeline of John McGahern’s life

Works

• Amongst Women (1990)

Prizes

• Amongst Women — The Booker Prize 1990: Shortlist