Julia O'Faolain (6 June 1932 – 27 October 2020) was an Irish

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

and

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

writer.

Early life and education

O'Faolain's parents were Irish writers

Seán Ó Faoláin Seán Proinsias Ó Faoláin (27 February 1900 – 20 April 1991) was one of the most influential figures in 20th-century Irish culture. A short-story writer of international repute, he was also a leading commentator and critic. Biography Ó ...

and Eileen Gould. She was educated at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome (), formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", abbreviated simply as Sapienza ('Wisdom'), is a Public university, public research university located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1303 and is ...

and the Sorbonne Paris. She worked as a writer, language teacher, editor and translator and lived in France, Italy, and the United States.

Writing career

Her novels include *''Godded and Codded'' (1970) *'' Women In The Wall'' (1973) *''No Country for Young Men'' (1980) *''The Obedient Wife'' (1982) *''The Irish Signorina'' (1984) *''The Judas Cloth'' (1992) *''Adam Gould'' (2009) Her short story collections include ''We Might See Sights!'' (1968), ''Man in the Cellar'' (1974), ''Melancholy Baby'' (1978) and ''Daughters of Passion'' (1982). As Julia Martines, she translated ''Two Memoirs of Renaissance Florence: The Diaries of Buonaccorso Pitti and Gregorio Dati'' and Piero Chiara's ''A Man of Parts''. Her ''No Country for Young Men'' was shortlisted for the 1980

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

. She lived in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, where she was married to a historian of the Renaissance, Lauro Martines. They had one son. With her husband, she co-edited ''Not in God's Image: Women in History from the Greeks to the Victorians'' (1973). O'Faolain died on 27 October 2020, aged 88.

Reviews

* Watson, George (1980), review of ''No Country for Young Men'', in ''

Cencrastus ''Cencrastus'' was a magazine devoted to Scottish and international literature, arts and affairs, founded after the Referendum of 1979 by students, mainly of Scottish literature, at Edinburgh University, and with support from Cairns Craig, then a ...

'' No. 4, Winter 1980-81, p. 48,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ofaolain, Julia 1932 births 2020 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Irish women novelists Irish women short story writers 20th-century Irish short story writers 20th-century Irish women writers 20th-century Irish novelists