Austin Clarke

Austin Clarke (b. May 9, 1896 - d. Mar. 19, 1974), poet and playwright, born in Manor Street in Dublin. He studied at University College Dublin, and spent 15 years in England as a journalist before returning to Dublin in 1937. The Vengeance of Fionn, the first of 18 books of verse, was published in 1917. His Collected Poems were published in 1974. He was also a noted playwright and an adherent of verse drama, promoted through the Dublin Verse-Speaking Society which he formed in 1941. His first novel, The Bright Temptation (1932), was banned in Ireland until 1954."