Seumas O'Kelly (1881 – 14 November 1918) was an Irish journalist, fiction writer, and playwright. Born in

Loughrea Loughrea ( ; ) is a town in County Galway, Ireland. The town lies to the north of a range of wooded hills, the Slieve Aughty Mountains, and the lake from which it takes its name. The town's cathedral, St Brendan's, dominates the town's skyline ...

, County Galway, O'Kelly was educated locally and began his career as a journalist with the Cork newspaper ''Southern Star''. He moved from '' The Southern Star'' to the ''

Leinster Leader The ''Leinster Leader'' is a newspaper published in Naas, County Kildare, Ireland. Johnston Press bought the Leinster Leader Group in 2005. The Leinster Leader Group, as well as publishing the Naas-based ''Leinster Leader'' also published The ' ...

'' in Naas where he remained as Editor until he went to work in 1916 for ''Nationality'', the

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

party newspaper. Michael O'Kelly more militant brother took over at the ''Leader'' in 1912, but was interned after the April 1916 Easter Rising. Seumas returned to the ''Leader'' for a brief stint. There is a plaque in his honour outside the ''Leaders offices which reads "Seumas O'Kelly – a gentle revolutionary". He wrote numerous plays, short stories, and novels. His short story "The Weaver's Grave" is among the most acclaimed of Irish short stories. A radio version of this, adapted and produced by Mícheál Ó hAodha, won the

Prix Italia The Prix Italia is an international Television, Radio-broadcasting and Web award. It was established in 1948 by RAI – Radiotelevisione Italiana (in 1948, RAI had the denomination RAI – Radio Audizioni Italiane) in Capri and is honoured with the ...

for Radio Drama in 1961. O'Kelly was a friend of the Irish nationalist

Arthur Griffith Arthur Joseph Griffith ( ga, Art Seosamh Ó Gríobhtha; 31 March 1871 – 12 August 1922) was an Irish writer, newspaper editor and politician who founded the political party Sinn Féin. He led the Irish delegation at the negotiations that prod ...

, founder of both the political party

and its newspaper ''Nationality''. He died prematurely of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

following a raid at the paper's headquarters at Harcourt St.O'Kelly at Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)
Retrieved 2008-03-24.

Prose fiction

These three books are available in digital copies at HathiTrust as of November 2018. * ''Waysiders: Stories of Connacht'' (Dublin: The Talbot Press and London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1917) – 10 stories * ''The Lady of Deerpark'' (London: Methuen, 1917) * ''The Golden Barque and The Weaver's Grave'' (Talbot, 1919) – 2 novellas * ''The Leprechaun of Killmeen'' (Dublin: Martin Lester, 1920) – novella

References

External links

* * *
Seumas O'Kelly Papers, 1904–1975
at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Special Collections Research Center * (previous page of browse report, as 'O'Kelly, Seumas, 1881–1918') 1881 births 1918 deaths Irish male dramatists and playwrights Irish journalists Irish male short story writers People from County Galway People from Loughrea Irish male novelists 20th-century Irish novelists 20th-century Irish male writers 20th-century Irish dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Irish short story writers 20th-century journalists {{Ireland-writer-stub