The names alone – W. B. Yeats, George Moore, George Russell (AE), James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw, John Synge – spell out a renaissance. The revival of the Irish language, folk movements and growing nationalism were other ingredients. Ulick O’Connor has created a brilliant composite portrait of the figures who dominated the era of this literary renaissance.

He has written the story of the rebirth of a nation with so much local colour that at times it reads like a novel. Yet every event took place and minor characters are not neglected. Celtic Dawn is acute, passionate, sometimes partisan, a pioneer work of biography, and compulsive reading even for those not closely acquainted with the figures who fills its pages.

The author: Ulick O’Connor is a biographer, playwright and poet.

His biography of Oliver St John Gogarty was described by Sir Charles Petrie as ‘the work of a modern Boswell’ and his biography of Brendan Behan also received high praise. He was called to the Irish Bar in 1951 and practiced as a barrister for fifteen years. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.