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Walter Macken facts for kids

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Walter Macken (3 May 1915 – 22 April 1967; Irish: Uaitéar Ó Maicín), was born in Galway, Ireland. He was a writer of short stories, novels and plays.

Filmography

1971 Flight of the Doves 1962 The Quare Fellow 1959 Home Is the Hero

Biography

Walter Macken was originally an actor, principally with the Taibhdhearc (where he met his wife, Peggy) in Galway, and The Abbey Theatre in Dublin. He also played lead roles on Broadway in M. J. Molloy's The King of Friday's Men and his own play Home Is the Hero. The success of his third book, Rain on the Wind (winner of the Literary Guild award in the USA), enabled him to focus his energies on writing. He also acted in films, notably in Arthur Dreifuss' adaptation of Brendan Behan's The Quare Fellow. He is perhaps best known for his trilogy of Irish historical novels Seek the Fair Land, The Silent People and The Scorching Wind.

In September 1966 he moved to the small Gaeltacht village of Menlo in County Galway. He died suddenly at home on 22 April 1967 and was survived by his wife and two sons. His son Ultan Macken is a well-known journalist in the print and broadcast media of Ireland, and wrote a biography of his father, Walter Macken: Dreams on Paper.

List of works

Plays

  • Mungo's Mansion (Macmillan, 1946)
  • Vacant Possession (Macmillan, 1948)
  • Home is the Hero (Macmillan, 1952)
  • Twilight is the Warrior (Macmillan, 1956)

Novels

  • Quench the Moon (Macmillan, 1948)
  • I Am Alone (Macmillan, 1949)
  • Rain on the Wind (London, MacMillan, 1950)
  • The Bogman (MacMillan, 1952)
  • Sunset on the Window Panes (Macmillan, 1954)
  • Sullivan (Macmillan, 1957)
  • Seek the Fair Land (MacMillan, 1959)
  • The Silent People (MacMillan, 1962)
  • The Scorching Wind (MacMillan, 1964)
  • Brown Lord of the Mountain (Macmillan, 1966)

Two further novels, 'And then No More' (1946) and 'Cockles and Mustard' (1947) remain unpublished.

Novels for children

Macken wrote some 5 collections of short stories for children, and also:

  • Island of the Great Yellow Ox (MacMillan, 1966)
  • Flight of the Doves (MacMillan, 1963), which was adapted for the cinema.

Short story collections

  • The Green Hills (MacMillan, 1956)
# Gaeglers and the Wild Geese
  1. The Currach Race
  2. The Gauger
  3. The Young Turk
  4. The Proud Man
  5. The Green Hills
  6. Barney's Maggie
  7. The Sailor
  8. The Hurling Match
  9. Duck Soup
  10. The Fair Lady
  11. The Lady and the Tom
  12. The Atheist
  13. The Wasteland
  14. Tuesday's Children
  15. Hallmarked
  16. The Eyes of the Cat
  17. Foreign Fish
  18. The Boy and the Brace
  19. The River
  20. The King
  • God Made Sunday and other Stories (Macmillan, 1962)
# God Made Sunday
  1. Patter O'Rourke
  2. The Big Fish
  3. Solo and the Nine Irons
  4. The Match Maiden
  5. The Conjugator
  6. Solo and the Simpleton
  7. Light in the Valley
  8. This Was My Day
  9. Solo and the Sinner
  10. No Medal for Matt
  11. The Red Rager
  12. The Lion
  • The Coll Doll and other Stories (Macmillan, 1969)
# The Coll Doll
  1. The Currach Race*
  2. Duck Soup*
  3. The Kiss
  4. Characters in Order of Appearance
  5. Gaeglers and the Wild Geese*
  6. The Wasteland*
  7. The Fair Lady*
  8. The Eyes of the Cat*
  9. A Talk in the Dark
  10. My Neighbour
  11. Foreign Fish*
  12. The Hurling Match*
  13. The Green Hills*
  14. Tuesday's Children*
  15. The Lady and the Tom*
  16. Janey is a Girl
  17. Barney's Maggie*
  18. The Dreamer
  19. The River*
  20. Three Witnesses

* Previously published in The Green Hills (MacMillan, 1956)

  • City of the Tribes (Brandon, 1997)
# Ambition
  1. Battle
  2. The Passing of the Black Swan
  3. New Clothes for the Giolla
  4. Dad
  5. Deputy Johnny
  6. Tail of a Kid
  7. Saga
  8. Dovetail and the Turkey
  9. Homecoming
  10. Homing Salmon
  11. Spanish Joe
  12. Colm comes to the Citie
  13. The Citie
  14. An Act of Charity
  15. Pugnug
  16. The New Broom
  17. Gaeglers and the Greyhound
  • The Grass of the People (Brandon, 1998)
# The Grass of the People
  1. What will we do with the Yanks
  2. Solo and the Sailor
  3. This Was My Day**
  4. The Storm is Still
  5. How to Poach a Salmon
  6. Sukos
  7. The Mare with Foal at Foot
  8. The Green Dream
  9. Challenge the River
  10. The Tangler
  11. The Bachelor
  12. The Coll Doll*
  13. The Kiss*
  14. Characters in Order of Appearance*
  15. A Talk in the Dark*
  16. My Neighbour*
  17. Jane is a Girl*
  18. The Dreamer*
  19. Three Witnesses*

* Previously published in The Coll Doll and other Stories (Macmillan, 1969)
** Previously published in God Made Sunday and other Stories (Macmillan, 1962)

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