Meet the Author
Liam O'Flaherty
Irish · 1896–1984 · Novelist and short-story writer
Portrait: Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
An Irish writer from the Aran Islands whose stories of war, animals, and island life are short, stark, and physical.
1 StoryBites Edition1 Short story
Why read Liam O'Flaherty?
O’Flaherty fought in the First World War and lived through Ireland’s revolutionary years, and he wrote about violence without speeches. The Sniper packs a civil war into a few pages. Read him for fast, plain storytelling with a twist that stays with you.
A life in six dates
- 1896Born on Inishmore, in the Aran Islands
- 1917Wounded while serving with the Irish Guards in the First World War
- 1923Publishes The Sniper and his first novel, Thy Neighbour’s Wife
- 1925Publishes The Informer, which wins the James Tait Black Memorial Prize
- 1984Dies in Dublin
Themes across the work
The StoryBites Editions
Context that actually matters
The Irish Civil WarThe 1922 to 1923 war between Republicans and Free State forces split families and is the setting of The Sniper.
The Aran IslandsThe harsh island landscape of his childhood runs through his stories of farmers, fishermen, and animals.
The Irish Literary RevivalHe wrote in the generation after Yeats and Synge, in a tougher, more realistic style.