Bryan MacMahon (writer)

Bryan Michael MacMahon (29 September 1909 – 13 February 1998)[1][2] was an Irish playwright, novelist and short story writer from Listowel, County Kerry.

A schoolteacher by training, his works include The Lion Tamer, Patsy-o and his Wonderful Pets and The Red Petticoat.

[2][3] He was one of four children, his father was a clerk in a law office, a butter-buyer and exporter, and his mother was a schoolteacher.

[3] He was educated in Scoil Réalta na Maidine, Lios Tuathail, and then St Michael's College, Listowel,[5] where he was influenced by the writer Seamus Wilmot, who encouraged him in his passion for writing.

Due to family pressures, he resigned from his teaching post in Dublin in 1931 and returned to Listowel, where he lived for the remainder of his life.

[9][2] MacMahon and Ryan were married in the Roman Catholic Church of Cashel on 4 November 1936.

[10][5] They had five sons, including Bryan, a judge of the Irish High Court, and Garry, who played Gaelic football for the Kerry senior inter-county team from 1958 to 1962[3] and went on to practice law.