Kate O'Brien

b. 1897

d. 1974

Born in Limerick and educated at University College, Dublin, she worked on the Manchester Guardian and as a governess in Spain. She returned to England to marry a Dutch historian Gustaaf Johannes Remier, but they soon parted and she increasingly became conscious of a lesbian identity. Her first novel, Without My Cloak (1931), was a chronicle of middle-class Irish life. It won both the Hawthornden and James Tait Black prizes. Increasingly O'Brien wrote of the struggle (particularly the struggle of Irish women) for individual freedom and love against the constricting demands of family, bourgeois society and Catholic religion. Other writings include The Ante-Room (1934), Mary Lavell (1936), The Land of Spices (1941), Pray for the Wanderer (1938), The Last of Summer (1943), That Lady (1946) and My Ireland (1962).

Oscar Wilde

b. Dublin, Oct. 16, 1854

d. Nov. 30, 1900,

Known above all for his wit, the Irish writer Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde, authored one of the English stage's finest comedies, The Importance of Being Ernest. With the classic novel The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1890) and several splendid literary essays including The Critic as Artist (1890) and The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891), Wilde is widely considered to be one of the greatest literary artists and conversationalist of Irish and British history.

Wilde was at the height of his career when the marquess of Queensberry--provoked by Wilde's affair with his son, Lord Douglas--accused him of "posing as" a sodomite. Wilde sued Queensberry for libel and lost; then the government prosecuted Wilde for indecent acts and won. He was sentenced to 2 years (1895-97) at hard labor, during which time he composed Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898) and the autobiographical essay De Profundis (1905).

Somerville and Ross

Edith Somerville

b. 1858

d. 1915

Violet Martin

b. 1862

d. 1915

Members of the impoverished and resourceful Anglo-Irish landlord families, Somerville and Martin collaborated on numerous novels and short stories which were published under the names "Somerville and Ross." They include one of Ireland's greatest novel's of the nineteenth century, The Real Charlotte, and its finest series of comic stories, Some Experiences of an Irish R.M. The women exchanged hundreds of letters which portrayed both Ireland, from the 1870's to 1915, and their love for each other, in a delighfully eloquent manner.

Sir Roger Casement

b. 1864

d. 1916

An Irish revolutionary who was executed for treason by the British, Casement, as a British consular official, had written reports exposing atrocities against plantation workers in the Belgian Congo (1904) and Peru (1912). After joining the Irish nationalist movement, Casement went (1914) to Germany after the outbreak of World War I to secure aid for an Irish rebellion. His trial and execution caused great controversy which was further exacerbated by disclosure of his homosexuality. Excerpts from his personal diaries detailed accounts of his sexual affairs with men around the world. Roger Casement was hanged on August 3, 1916...an Irishman seeking independence and a gay man refusing shame.

b. 1870

d. 1926

Born into a wealthy West of Ireland family, Eva Gore-Booth and her sister, Constance, reacted against their privileged background and devoted much of themselves to helping the poor and disadvantaged. Eva worked tirelessly to better the working conditions of women in England and with the help of her sister, founded a suffrage society in Sligo. In 1895, Eva became seriously ill with tuberculosis. In the following year, while convalescing in Italy, she met and fell in love with Esther Roper, a young English woman who was then secretary of the North of England Society for Women's Suffrage. They moved to Manchester, England where they became joint secretaries of the Women's Textile and Other Workers Representation Committee and edited the Women's Labour News. As she grew weaker, Eva was forced to give up active work but continued to write poetry. After her death, Esther collected many of her poems for publication and wrote a biographical introduction to them.

Elizabeth Bowen

b. 1899

d. 1973

Born into an Anglo-Irish family of the old Protestant ascendancy, the novelist and short story writer was known for her sardonic social commentary and comedy. Immensely sociable, her numerous friends included Virginia Woolf, Lord David Cecil, Isaiah Berlin, Rosamond Lehmann and Sean O'Faolain. Her works include The Death of the Heart and The Heat of the Day.

Ladies of Llangollen

Lady Eleanor Butler

b. 1739

d. 1829

Miss Sarah Ponsonby

b. 1755

d. 1831

The two 18th-century Irish gentlewomen (the Ladies of Llangollen) and their maid Mary Carryll ran away to Plas Newydd, Llangollen, Wales and lived together in "romantic friendship" from 1778 to 1828. Their stay survived the reign of two English kings: George III, and his Queen-Consort Charlotte, and George IV. The Ladies of Llangollen immersed themselves in politics, the arts and horticulture during the political transition of the British Isles. The shifting power in Europe brought famous visitors to Plas Newydd to discuss politics and The Ladies often entertained poets and students of science as well.