ABOUT THE BOOK

Brendan Behan wrote over one hundred articles for Irish newspapers between 1951 and 1956 as he rose to international fame, with most of them written in a weekly column in the Irish Press. The articles reveal a serious writer capable of great comic set pieces and amusing yarns as well as thoughtful reflections on cultural and historical issues. They reflect his passion for working-class Dublin life and the history and folklore of the city, as well as his travels in Ireland and Europe.

This edition gathers all the articles and essays that Behan published in newspapers from 1951 to his death in 1964. Selections of Behan’s articles have been published since his death (Hold Your Hour and Have Another, 1965; After the Wake, 1981; The Dubbalin Man, 1997). However, there has been no complete edition of Behan’s prose, and no edition has provided a detailed biographical and literary introduction, explanatory notes and suggestions for further reading. This volume is publishing during the centenary celebrations of Behan’s birth in 2023, with his birthday being 9 February.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Born on 9 February 1923, Brendan Behan was raised at 13 Russell Street in Dublin’s north inner city. He became one of Ireland’s best-known writers and talkers. Behan moved between Dublin, Kerry and Connemara and spent time in Paris, writing in both Irish and English. He wrote articles for The Irish Press and two radio plays for Radio Éireann

ABOUT THE EDITOR 

Professor John Brannigan is Head of English at UCD and is the author of book-length studies of the writings of Brendan Behan and Pat Barker as well as investigations of critical race theory in Race in Modern Irish Literature and Culture (2009). He was editor of the international journal, Irish University Review, from 2010 to 2016.

PRAISE FOR A BIT OF A WRITER 

 ‘A Bit of a Writer is the sort of book best dipped into at random (and perhaps even read aloud) … [it won’t] disappoint anyone drawn to the man’s wisecracking, gun-toting, hard-living persona.’ ROB DOYLE, SUNDAY INDEPENDENT 

‘Behan’s columns gathered here, written in haste and mischievousness to earn money, give readers a more anarchic Dublin while also taking us on excursions across Ireland and to his beloved Paris. They show an apprentice writer, vibrantly in love with words – and with no idea where those words would lead him in the few short years to come.’ DERMOT BOLGER, SUNDAY BUSINESS POST