Erin Go Bragh (Ireland Forever)

As you’re enjoying your Irish beer this St. Patrick’s day, drink a toast to Ireland’s writers. The small country of Ireland has produced more than its fair share of the world’s great literature. Long before Jonathan Swift and James Joyce, there were the oral storytellers and their tales of heroes and kings, and battles lost and won. Irish literature is infused with the hardships of the Irish people and the wit and humor by which they have survived since the first inhabitants settled the land around 7000 B.C.

The list of Irish writers is long, and while there is much to admire about the literary greatness of such classic writers as Samuel Beckett, Frank O'Connor and Bram Stoker, there is a new generation of Irish literature to be read and enjoyed. Below is a list of contemporary Irish writers:

Jo Bannister * Maeve Binchy * Eavan Boland * Clare Boylan Seamus Deane * Roddy Doyle * Josephine Hart * Seamus Heaney Thomas Kinsella * Dennis Lehane * Patrick McCabe * Colum McCann * Frank McCourt * Alice McDermott * John Montague
Paul Muldoon * Edna O'brien * Nuala O'Faolain * William Trevor

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Learn more about St. Patrick's Day and Ireland at History.com

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Irish literature
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