John Banim
| John Banim | |
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| Born |
3 April 1798 Kilkenny, Ireland |
| Died | 30 August 1842 (aged 44) Windgap, County Kilkenny, Ireland |
| Pen name | Barnes O'Hara |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Period | 1820s–1830s |
| Genre | Fiction, drama, essays |
| Subject | Irish history, Irish life, social issues |
| Literary movement | Romanticism |
| Relatives | Michael Banim (Abel O'Hara) |
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John Banim (3 April 1798 – 30 August 1842), was an Irish novelist, short story writer, dramatist, poet and essayist, sometimes called the "Scott of Ireland." He also studied art, working as a painter of miniatures and portraits, and as a drawing teacher, before dedicating himself to literature.
John Banim was born in Kilkenny, Ireland. At age four, his parents sent him to a local school where he learned the basics of reading and grammar. At age five, Banim was sent to the English Academy at Kilkenny where his older brother Michael (1796–1874) was a student. This school is described in Michael Banim's novel Father Connell. After five years at the English Academy, John Banim was sent to a seminary run by a Reverent Magrath, considered to be the finest Roman Catholic school in Ireland. After a year at the seminary, Banim transferred to another academy run by a teacher named Terence Doyle.
Throughout his school years, Banim read avidly and wrote his own stories and poems. As a boy, he invented a birthday tradition where he would gather all of his writings from the previous year, re-read them critically, and then burn the ones he found lacking. When he was ten, Banim visited the poet Thomas Moore, bringing along some of his own poetry in manuscript. Moore encouraged Banim to continue writing and gave him a season ticket to his private theatre in Kilkenny, where Moore himself was performing at the time.
At age 13, Banim entered Kilkenny College, where he devoted himself specially to drawing and miniature painting. He pursued his artistic education for two years in the schools of the Royal Dublin Society, and afterwards taught drawing in Kilkenny
Banim soon fell in love with one of his pupils, a 17 year-old girl named Anne. However, the girl's parents disapproved of their relationship and sent her out of town. Anne died two months later of tuberculosis. Her death made a deep impression on Banim, whose health suffered severely and permanently.
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