(Updated 6-27-22. Several changes since 2011 in the publishing world have rendered the original post a bit too confusing, though I imagine O’Brien would love all of that —the madcap zaniness of the biz, so to speak. Well, perhaps. So I’ll just point current and future readers to a more up to date source, and leave at that***.)
Centenary morning, to ya!!
A great, great author, full of wit and whimsy and a native Irish speaker, Flann O’Brien would be a hundred years young today, if he hadn’t met the fate of The Third Policeman.
Excerpt from Wikipedia:
Brian O’Nolan (Irish: Brian Ó Nualláin; 5 October 1911 – 1 April 1966), better known by his pen name Flann O’Brien, was an Irish civil service official, novelist, playwright and satirist, who is now considered a major figure in twentieth century Irish literature. Born in Strabane, County Tyrone, he is regarded as a key figure in modernist[1] and postmodern literature.[2] His English language novels, such as At Swim-Two-Birds and The Third Policeman, were written under the O’Brien pen name. His many satirical columns in The Irish Times and an Irish language novel An Béal Bocht were written under the name Myles na gCopaleen.
***The Parish Review: Journal of Flann O’Brien Studies