Frank O'Connor
| Frank O'Connor | |
|---|---|
| Born | Michael Francis O'Donovan 17 September 1903 Cork, Ireland |
| Died | 10 March 1966 (aged 62) Dublin, Ireland |
| Occupation | Short story writer, memoirist |
| Nationality | Irish |
Frank O'Connor (born Michael Francis O'Donovan; 17 September 1903 – 10 March 1966) was an Irish writer of over 150 works, best known for his short stories and memoirs. The Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award is named in his honour.
Raised in Cork, the only child of Minnie (née O'Connor) and Michael O'Donovan, he attended Saint Patrick’s School on Gardiner's Hill and North Monastery CBS. O'Connor's early life was marked by his father's alcoholism, debt, and ill-treatment of his mother. His childhood was shaped in part by his mother, who supplied much of the family's income by cleaning houses, because his father was unable to keep steady employment due to his drunkenness. O'Connor adored his mother and was bitterly resentful of his father. In his memoirs, he recalled his childhood as "those terrible years", and admitted that he had never been able to forgive his father for his abuse of himself and his mother. When his mother was seventy, O'Connor was horrified to learn from his own doctor that she had suffered for years from chronic appendicitis, which she had endured with great stoicism, as she had never had the time nor the money to see a doctor.
In 1918 O'Connor joined the First Brigade of the Irish Republican Army and served in combat during the Irish War of Independence. He opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 and joined the Anti-Treaty IRA during the Irish Civil War, working in a small propaganda unit in Cork City. He was one of twelve thousand Anti-Treaty combatants who were interned by the government of the new Irish Free State. Between 1922 and 1923 O'Connor was imprisoned in Cork City Gaol and in Gormanston, County Meath.
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