126 writers and poets, in English and in Irish, placed by the county they were born in. 103 of
them can be placed in 21 counties; the rest were born in Belfast, abroad, or somewhere their biographers cannot agree on.
This is a selection, not a ranking.
Jonathan Swift· 1667–1745 · born Dublin Satirist, essayist and Anglican cleric, the author of Gulliver's Travels (1726).Wikipedia ↗
Richard Brinsley Sheridan· 1751–1816 · born Dublin Playwright and Whig politician who owned the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in London and sat in the House of Commons from 1780 to 1812.Wikipedia ↗
Thomas Moore· 1779–1852 · born Dublin Poet and lyricist, regarded in his lifetime as Ireland's "national bard" for his Irish Melodies, set to old Irish tunes.Wikipedia ↗
Charles Maturin· 1780–1824 · born Dublin Church of Ireland clergyman and writer of Gothic plays and novels, best known for Melmoth the Wanderer (1820).Wikipedia ↗
James Clarence Mangan(Séamus Ó Mangáin)· 1803–1849 · born Fishamble Street, Dublin Poet who freely translated from German, Turkish, Persian, Arabic and Irish.Wikipedia ↗
Sheridan Le Fanu· 1814–1873 · born Dominick Street Lower, Dublin Writer of Gothic fiction and newspaper proprietor, counted among the great ghost-story writers of the Victorian era.Wikipedia ↗
Dion Boucicault· 1820–1890 · born Dublin Actor and playwright famed for his melodramas, one of the most successful actor-playwright-managers on both sides of the Atlantic.Wikipedia ↗
Bram Stoker· 1847–1912 · born Clontarf, Dublin Writer and theatre manager, the author of Dracula (1897).Wikipedia ↗
Oscar Wilde· 1854–1900 · born Dublin Author, poet and playwright, one of the most popular dramatists in London in the early 1890s and a key figure of Aestheticism.Wikipedia ↗
George Bernard Shaw· 1856–1950 · born Portobello, Dublin Playwright, critic and polemicist who wrote more than sixty plays, among them Man and Superman and Pygmalion.Wikipedia ↗
· Nobel laureate
Katharine Tynan· 1859–1931 · born Dublin Writer known mainly for her novels and poetry, who after her marriage usually wrote as Katharine Tynan Hinkson.Wikipedia ↗
· Women in Irish history
W. B. Yeats· 1865–1939 · born Sandymount, County Dublin Poet and dramatist, a driving force of the Irish Literary Revival and a founder of the Abbey Theatre.Wikipedia ↗
· Nobel laureate
· On the Dublin page
Robert Tressell· 1870–1911 · born Dublin Pen name of Robert Noonan, author of The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists.Wikipedia ↗
J. M. Synge· 1871–1909 · born Rathfarnham, County Dublin Playwright, poet and collector of folklore, a key figure of the Irish Literary Revival.Wikipedia ↗
Oliver St. John Gogarty· 1878–1957 · born Rutland Square, Dublin Poet, surgeon, athlete and politician, the model for Buck Mulligan in Joyce's Ulysses.Wikipedia ↗
Patrick Pearse(Pádraig Anraí Mac Piarais)· 1879–1916 · born Dublin Teacher, poet and writer who was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising of 1916.Wikipedia ↗
James Stephens· 1880–1950 · born Probably the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin (uncertain) Novelist and poet. He claimed to share James Joyce's birthday; the article says he is probably the James Stephens recorded as born at the Rotunda on 9 February 1880.Wikipedia ↗
Seán O'Casey(Seán Ó Cathasaigh)· 1880–1964 · born Dublin Dramatist and memoirist, the first Irish playwright of note to write about Dublin's working class.Wikipedia ↗
James Joyce· 1882–1941 · born Dublin Novelist and poet of the modernist movement, whose Ulysses (1922) is a landmark of 20th-century literature.Wikipedia ↗
· On the Dublin page
Joseph Mary Plunkett(Seosamh Máire Pluincéid)· 1887–1916 · born Dublin Poet and journalist, a leader of the Easter Rising and one of the seven signatories of the Proclamation.Wikipedia ↗
Austin Clarke(Aibhistín Ó Cléirigh)· 1896–1974 · born Stoneybatter, Dublin One of the leading Irish poets of the generation after Yeats, who also wrote plays, novels and memoirs.Wikipedia ↗
Elizabeth Bowen· 1899–1973 · born Dublin Novelist and short-story writer of the Anglo-Irish "Big House" and of wartime London.Wikipedia ↗
· Women in Irish history
Samuel Beckett· 1906–1989 · born Dublin Playwright, novelist and poet who wrote in English and French, best known for Waiting for Godot.Wikipedia ↗
· Nobel laureate
Iris Murdoch· 1919–1999 · born Dublin Novelist and philosopher, best known for novels about good and evil, sexual relationships and morality.Wikipedia ↗
Máire Mhac an tSaoi· 1922–2021 · born Dublin Diplomat and modernist poet in Munster Irish, one of the trinity of poets who changed Irish-language poetry in the 1940s and 50s.Wikipedia ↗
· Women in Irish history
Brendan Behan(Breandán Ó Beacháin)· 1923–1964 · born Dublin Poet, short-story writer, novelist and playwright who wrote in both English and Irish.Wikipedia ↗
Hugh Leonard· 1926–2009 · born Dublin Playwright whose fifty-year career produced nearly 30 full-length plays, novels, memoirs and screenplays.Wikipedia ↗
Thomas Kinsella· 1928–2021 · born Inchicore, Dublin Poet, translator, editor and publisher, who also translated early Irish poetry into English.Wikipedia ↗
· On the Dublin page
Jennifer Johnston· 1930–2025 · born Dublin Novelist, many of whose books deal with the fading of the Protestant Anglo-Irish ascendancy.Wikipedia ↗
Christy Brown· 1932–1981 · born Crumlin, Dublin Writer and painter with cerebral palsy who wrote with the toes of one foot; his autobiography is My Left Foot (1954).Wikipedia ↗
John McGahern· 1934–2006 · born Dublin; raised in County Leitrim Novelist of The Barracks, The Dark and Amongst Women, called by The Observer "the greatest living Irish novelist".Wikipedia ↗
Maeve Binchy· 1939–2012 · born Dublin Novelist and columnist whose books of small-town Irish life were translated into 37 languages.Wikipedia ↗
· Women in Irish history
Eavan Boland· 1944–2020 · born Dublin Poet whose work deals with Irish national identity and the role of women in Irish history.Wikipedia ↗
· Women in Irish history
Paul Durcan· 1944–2025 · born Dublin Poet, Ireland Professor of Poetry from 2004 to 2007.Wikipedia ↗
Sebastian Barry· born 1955 · born Dublin Novelist, playwright and poet, Laureate for Irish Fiction 2018–2021.Wikipedia ↗
Roddy Doyle· born 1958 · born Dublin Novelist and screenwriter whose books, beginning with The Commitments, have been made into films.Wikipedia ↗
Dermot Bolger· born 1959 · born Finglas, Dublin Novelist, playwright, poet and editor, the author of fourteen novels including The Journey Home.Wikipedia ↗
Anne Enright· born 1962 · born Dublin Writer, winner of the Man Booker Prize in 2007 and the first Laureate for Irish Fiction.Wikipedia ↗
Joseph O'Connor· born 1963 · born Dublin Novelist whose historical novel Star of the Sea (2002) was an international bestseller.Wikipedia ↗
Marina Carr· born 1964 · born Dublin; raised in County Offaly Playwright, known for By the Bog of Cats (1998).Wikipedia ↗
Colum McCann· born 1965 · born Dublin Writer of literary fiction living in New York, winner of the U.S. National Book Award.Wikipedia ↗
Emma Donoghue· born 1969 · born Dublin Irish-Canadian novelist and screenwriter whose Room (2010) was a Booker Prize finalist.Wikipedia ↗
Emily Lawless· 1845–1913 · born Lyons Demesne Novelist, historian, entomologist and poet whose fiction has been called early modernism.Wikipedia ↗
· Women in Irish history
Molly Keane· 1904–1996 · born Newbridge Novelist and playwright who also wrote as M. J. Farrell.Wikipedia ↗
· On the Kildare page
Padraic Colum· 1881–1972 · born Columcille Poet, novelist, dramatist and folklore collector, one of the leading figures of the Irish Literary Revival.Wikipedia ↗
· On the Longford page
Francis Ledwidge· 1887–1917 · born Janeville, Slane "Poet of the blackbirds" and First World War poet, killed in action in 1917.Wikipedia ↗
· On the Meath page
Jane Wilde· 1821–1896 · born Wexford Poet who wrote as Speranza, a collector of Irish folktales and the mother of Oscar Wilde.Wikipedia ↗
· Women in Irish history
John Banville· born 1945 · born Wexford Novelist and screenwriter who has been publishing books since 1970.Wikipedia ↗
Colm Tóibín· born 1955 · born Enniscorthy Novelist, essayist and critic whose The Blackwater Lightship was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.Wikipedia ↗
Eoin Colfer· born 1965 · born Wexford Children's writer, the author of the Artemis Fowl series.Wikipedia ↗
Brian Merriman(Brian Mac Giolla Meidhre)· c. 1747–1805 · born County Clare Irish-language poet, farmer and hedge-school teacher from rural Clare, whose one surviving major work is Cúirt an Mheán Oíche (The Midnight Court).Wikipedia ↗
· On the Clare page
Edna O'Brien· 1930–2024 · born Tuamgraney Novelist, memoirist and short-story writer whose first novel, The Country Girls (1960), was banned and has been credited with breaking silence on sexual matters in post-war Ireland.Wikipedia ↗
· Women in Irish history
· On the Clare page
Thomas Davis· 1814–1845 · born Mallow Writer and a founding editor of The Nation, the paper of the Young Ireland movement.Wikipedia ↗
Seán Ó Faoláin· 1900–1991 · born Cork Short-story writer of international repute, and a leading commentator and critic.Wikipedia ↗
Frank O'Connor· 1903–1966 · born Cork Pen name of Michael O'Donovan, short-story writer, translator from Irish and critic.Wikipedia ↗
· On the Cork page
Seán Ó Ríordáin· 1916–1977 · born Baile Mhúirne Irish-language poet and columnist, credited with bringing European themes into Irish poetry.Wikipedia ↗
William Trevor· 1928–2016 · born Mitchelstown Novelist and playwright, widely regarded as one of the great short-story writers in English.Wikipedia ↗
· On the Cork page
Aogán Ó Rathaille· c. 1670–1726 · born Thought to be Scrahanaveal, Gneeveguilla (uncertain) Irish-language poet credited with creating the first fully developed aisling.Wikipedia ↗
Eoghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin· 1748–1784 · born Meentogues, Gneeveguilla Poet of Sliabh Luachra, known as one of the last great Gaelic poets.Wikipedia ↗
· On the Kerry page
Tomás Ó Criomhthain· bap. 1855–1937 · born Great Blasket Island Blasket Islander who wrote two books in Irish, Allagar na hInise and An tOileánach.Wikipedia ↗
· On the Kerry page
Peig Sayers· 1873–1958 · born Dún Chaoin Author and seanchaí, described by the folklorist Seán Ó Súilleabháin as one of the greatest woman storytellers of recent times.Wikipedia ↗
· Women in Irish history
· On the Kerry page
Muiris Ó Súilleabháin· 1904–1950 · born Great Blasket Island Author of Fiche Bliain ag Fás, a memoir in Irish of growing up on the Great Blasket.Wikipedia ↗
· On the Kerry page
Bryan MacMahon· 1909–1998 · born Listowel Schoolteacher, playwright, novelist and short-story writer, author of The Honey Spike.Wikipedia ↗
John B. Keane· 1928–2002 · born Listowel Playwright, novelist and essayist from Listowel.Wikipedia ↗
· On the Kerry page
Brendan Kennelly· 1936–2021 · born Ballylongford Poet and novelist, Professor of Modern Literature at Trinity College Dublin until 2005.Wikipedia ↗
Gerald Griffin(Gearóid Ó Gríofa)· 1803–1840 · born Limerick Novelist, poet and playwright whose The Collegians became Boucicault's play The Colleen Bawn.Wikipedia ↗
· On the Limerick page
Michael Hartnett(Mícheál Ó hAirtnéide)· 1941–1999 · born Croom Hospital Poet in English and Irish, called "Munster's de facto poet laureate".Wikipedia ↗
Laurence Sterne· 1713–1768 · born Clonmel Novelist and Anglican cleric, the author of Tristram Shandy.Wikipedia ↗
· On the Tipperary page
Charles Kickham· 1828–1882 · born Mullinahone Revolutionary, novelist, poet and journalist, one of the most prominent members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.Wikipedia ↗
Thomas MacDonagh(Tomás Anéislis Mac Donnchadha)· 1878–1916 · born Cloughjordan Poet, playwright and educationalist, a leader of the Easter Rising and a signatory of the Proclamation.Wikipedia ↗
· On the Tipperary page
Lady Gregory· 1852–1932 · born Roxborough Dramatist, folklorist and theatre manager who co-founded the Irish Literary Theatre and the Abbey Theatre.Wikipedia ↗
· Women in Irish history
· On the Galway page
Violet Martin ("Martin Ross")· 1862–1915 · born Ross House, Connemara Co-wrote a series of novels with her cousin Edith Somerville as "Somerville and Ross".Wikipedia ↗
· Women in Irish history
Mary Devenport O'Neill· 1879–1967 · born Loughrea Poet and dramatist, a friend and colleague of Yeats, George Russell and Austin Clarke.Wikipedia ↗
Pádraic Ó Conaire· 1882–1928 · born Galway Writer mainly in Irish whose novel Deoraíocht was described by Angela Bourke as "the earliest example of modernist fiction in Irish".Wikipedia ↗
Liam O'Flaherty(Liam Ó Flaithearta)· 1896–1984 · born Inishmore Novelist and short-story writer, one of the foremost socialist writers of the early 20th century.Wikipedia ↗
· On the Galway page
Máirtín Ó Cadhain· 1906–1970 · born Spiddal One of the most prominent Irish-language writers of the 20th century, best known for the novel Cré na Cille (1949).Wikipedia ↗
· On the Galway page
Máirtín Ó Direáin· 1910–1988 · born Inis Mór Poet from the Aran Islands Gaeltacht, one of the trinity who changed Irish-language poetry in the 1940s and 50s.Wikipedia ↗
· On the Galway page
Walter Macken(Uaitéar Ó Maicín)· 1915–1967 · born Galway Writer of short stories, novels and plays.Wikipedia ↗
Eilís Dillon· 1920–1994 · born Galway Author of fifty books, translated into fourteen languages.Wikipedia ↗
Tom Murphy· 1935–2018 · born Tuam Dramatist who worked closely with the Abbey and Druid theatres; his first success was A Whistle in the Dark.Wikipedia ↗
Antoine Ó Raifteirí· 1779–1835 · born Kiltimagh Irish-language poet often called the last of the wandering bards.Wikipedia ↗
George Moore· 1852–1933 · born Moore Hall Novelist, short-story writer, poet, art critic and dramatist, from a landed Catholic family at Moore Hall in Carra.Wikipedia ↗
· On the Mayo page
Sally Rooney· born 1991 · born Castlebar Novelist of Conversations with Friends and Normal People, both adapted for television.Wikipedia ↗
Douglas Hyde(Dubhghlas de hÍde)· 1860–1949 · born Castlerea Scholar of the Irish language who wrote as An Craoibhín Aoibhinn, and the first President of Ireland (1938–1945).Wikipedia ↗
· On the Roscommon page
George William Russell (Æ)· 1867–1935 · born Lurgan Writer, editor, poet and painter who wrote as Æ, a central figure in Dublin's theosophist circle.Wikipedia ↗
· On the Armagh page
Paul Muldoon· born 1951 · born Portadown Poet, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the T. S. Eliot Prize.Wikipedia ↗
Patrick MacGill· 1890–1963 · born Glenties Journalist, poet and novelist known as "the Navvy Poet" for the labouring work he did before he wrote.Wikipedia ↗
Séamus Ó Grianna· 1889–1969 · born Rann na Feirste Irish-language writer who used the pen name Máire.Wikipedia ↗
Peadar O'Donnell(Peadar Ó Domhnaill)· 1893–1986 · born Dungloe Republican, socialist and writer, one of the foremost radicals of 20th-century Ireland.Wikipedia ↗
· On the Donegal page
Seosamh Mac Grianna· 1900 or 1901–1990 · born Rann na Feirste Irish-language writer born into a family of poets and storytellers in the Rosses.Wikipedia ↗
Patrick Kavanagh· 1904–1967 · born Inniskeen Poet and novelist of Tarry Flynn, "On Raglan Road" and "The Great Hunger".Wikipedia ↗
· On the Monaghan page
Patrick McCabe· born 1955 · born Clones Novelist twice shortlisted for the Booker Prize, for The Butcher Boy and Breakfast on Pluto.Wikipedia ↗
William Carleton· 1794–1869 · born Prolusk, Clogher Novelist best known for Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry.Wikipedia ↗
· On the Tyrone page
Alice Milligan· 1865–1953 · born Gortmore Writer and activist of the Celtic Revival, a Protestant who came to the cause of Irish independence.Wikipedia ↗
· Women in Irish history
Flann O'Brien(Brian Ó Nualláin)· 1911–1966 · born Strabane Pen name of Brian O'Nolan, civil servant, novelist and satirist, now seen as a major figure in 20th-century Irish literature.Wikipedia ↗
Anna Burns· born 1962 Novelist whose Milkman won the 2018 Booker Prize.Wikipedia ↗
Born elsewhere, or birthplace unknown
Oliver Goldsmith· 1728–1774 · born Disputed: Ballymahon, County Longford, or Elphin, County Roscommon Poet, novelist and playwright, one of the most versatile writers of the Georgian era.Wikipedia ↗
Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill· c. 1743–c. 1800 · birthplace not given in the source Poet of the O'Connells of Derrynane and aunt of Daniel O'Connell, the main composer of the lament Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire. Her article does not give her birthplace.Wikipedia ↗ · Women in Irish history
Claire Keegan· born 1968 · birthplace not given in the source Short-story writer and author of novellas, two of which have been adapted as films.Wikipedia ↗
Maria Edgeworth· 1768–1849 · born Black Bourton, Oxfordshire, England Novelist for adults and children, one of the first realist writers in children's literature.Wikipedia ↗ · Women in Irish history
Edith Somerville· 1858–1949 · born Corfu Novelist who wrote with her cousin Violet Martin as "Somerville and Ross".Wikipedia ↗ · Women in Irish history
Lord Dunsany· 1878–1957 · born London Writer and dramatist who published more than ninety books.Wikipedia ↗
Mary Lavin· 1912–1996 · born Walpole, Massachusetts Short-story writer and novelist, regarded as a pioneer of women's writing.Wikipedia ↗ · Women in Irish history
John Montague· 1929–2016 · born United States; raised in Ulster Poet, memoirist and short-story writer, one of the best-known contemporary Irish poets.Wikipedia ↗
Frank McCourt· 1930–2009 · born Brooklyn, New York Teacher and writer, whose memoir Angela's Ashes won a Pulitzer Prize.Wikipedia ↗
Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill· born 1952 · born Lancashire, England; raised in Corca Dhuibhne Poet in Irish, described as a major influence in revitalising the Irish language in modern poetry.Wikipedia ↗
Martin McDonagh· born 1970 · born London Playwright and filmmaker known for absurdist dark humour, winner of an Academy Award.Wikipedia ↗
Eimear McBride· born 1976 · born Liverpool Novelist whose debut, A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing, won the first Goldsmiths Prize.Wikipedia ↗
Quick answersWhich Irish writers won the Nobel Prize in Literature?
Four: W. B. Yeats (1923), George Bernard Shaw (1925), Samuel Beckett (1969) and Seamus Heaney (1995). Yeats, Shaw and Beckett were born in Dublin, Heaney near Castledawson in County Derry.
Where was Oliver Goldsmith born?
It is disputed: either Ballymahon in County Longford or Elphin in County Roscommon. His Wikipedia article gives both, so this page gives him no county.
Was C. S. Lewis Irish?
He was born in Belfast in 1898. His Wikipedia article calls him a British author. This page lists Belfast-born writers without a county, because Belfast lies in both Antrim and Down.
Which Irish writers wrote in Irish?
Among them on this page: Peig Sayers, Tomás Ó Criomhthain and Muiris Ó Súilleabháin of the Blasket, Máirtín Ó Cadhain, Máirtín Ó Direáin, Seán Ó Ríordáin, Máire Mhac an tSaoi, Pádraic Ó Conaire, the Ó Grianna brothers, and the older poets Aogán Ó Rathaille, Eoghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin, Brian Merriman and Antoine Ó Raifteirí.
Sources and gaps
Each writer was checked against their English Wikipedia article (October 2026), linked beside the name. Years and birthplace
come from the article's infobox or introduction, and the note paraphrases the introduction. An Irish form of a name is shown
only where the article gives one. Dublin city counts as County Dublin.
No writer on this list was born in Carlow, Cavan, Down, Fermanagh, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Louth, Offaly, Sligo, Wicklow. That says more about the selection than
about those counties, and suggestions with a source are welcome. Each county page also lists notable people born there.