Julia O'Faolain novelist, short story writer, and memoirist was born in London on the 6th of June 1932 to acclaimed short story writer Sean O'Faolain and children's book author Eileen Gould O'Faolain.
O'Faolain was raised and educated in Dublin where her parents made a home in Killiney on the South Side of Dublin. The family home was a hub for many of the great Irish writers of the time and those experiences proved to be useful fodder for her account of that era: Trespassers: A Memoir
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Following the completion of her degree in the University College of Dublin in Italian and French, O'Faolain pursued post-graduate education in both the Sorbonne in Paris and the University of Rome. At the suggestion of her father, she began to write in the 1950s and would go on to produce seven novels and four short story collections in addition to her memoir.
She lived much of her life away from Ireland in America, London, and Tuscany where she collaborated with her husband Lauro Martines on a number of his academic projects. O'Faolain's writing focused primarily on Irish characters specifically the lives of Irish women. She is likely best known for her novel No Country for Young Men which was shortlisted for the 1980 Booker prize.
Julia O'Faolain died on the 27th of October 2020 aged 88, a member of the first group of Irish writers born in the newly created state.
