Brian Moore (/briˈæn/ bree-AN;[2] 25 August 1921 – 11 January 1999), was a novelist and screenwriter from Northern Ireland[3][4][5] who emigrated to Canada and later lived in the United States.

[7] The physical description of the school at the heart of The Feast of Lupercal matches closely that of Moore's alma mater and is widely held to be a lightly fictionalised setting of the college as he unfondly remembered it.

[14] While eventually making his primary residence in California, Moore continued to live part of each year in Canada up to his death.

[15] The first two of these pieces of pulp fiction, all of which he later disowned,[16] were published in Canada by Harlequin – Wreath for a Redhead in March 1951 and The Executioners in July 1951.

[9] Other novels by Moore were adapted for the screen, including Intent to Kill, The Luck of Ginger Coffey, Catholics, Black Robe, Cold Heaven, and The Statement.

[7] Some of his novels feature staunchly anti-doctrinaire and anti-clerical themes, and in particular, he spoke strongly about the effect of the Church on life in Ireland.

At the same time, several of his novels are deeply sympathetic and affirming portrayals of the struggles of faith and religious commitment, Black Robe most prominently.

His first marriage, in 1952, was to Jacqueline ("Jackie") Sirois (née Scully), a French Canadian[5] and fellow journalist with whom he had a son, Michael (who became a professional photographer),[19] in 1953.

[10] Despite Moore's often conflicted attitude to Ireland and his Irishness, his concluding reflection in the piece was "The past is buried until, in Connemara, the sight of Bulmer Hobson's grave brings back those faces, those scenes, those sounds and smells which now live only in my memory.

Information about the publishing of Moore's novel Judith Hearne, and the break-up of his marriage can be found in Diana Athill's memoir Stet (2000).

[30] In 2023 an Ulster History Circle blue plaque was unveiled by the Lord Mayor of Belfast, close to where Moore was born.