Irish Authors You Didn’t Know Were Irish [Infographic]

Throughout our research for new poster designs and blog posts, we’ve occasionally stumbled across an author and thought, “Huh, didn’t realize she was from there!” One of our latest discoveries, for example, was JRR Tolkein. Did you know that Tolkein is from South Africa? We had no idea!

We figured we can’t be the only ones who are unaware of certain authors’ backgrounds—so we thought we’d share some of our favorite Irish authors, some of whom we didn’t even know were Irish.

For those who prefer text, the same information is presented below.

9 Authors You Didn’t Know Were Irish

Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900)
Oscar Wilde is best known for The Importance of Being Earnest and The Picture of Dorian Gray. He served two years of hard labor for homosexuality and died tragically young
Bram Stoker (1847 – 1912)
Bram Stoker was not a writer by trade, but rather a theater manager. Nonetheless, Stoker published Dracula in 1897. The original title for Dracula was The Un-Dead.
CS Lewis (1898 – 1963)
Though perhaps most famous today for his Narnia series, CS Lewis was also a renowed Christian apologist. Influential texts includeThe Screwtape Letters and Mere Christianity.
WB Yeats (1865 – 1939)
William Butler Yeats is often considered one of the best English-language poets of all time. In 1923, Yeats became the first Irish person to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Colum McCann (1965 – present)
Colum McCann won the National Book Award in 2009 for his novel Let The Great World Spin. He teaches creative writing in the MFA program at Hunter College, New York.
James Joyce (1882 – 1941)
James Joyce is often called the father of modernist literature. His stream-of-consciousness style is most famous in Ulysses and Finnegan’s Wake.
Emma Donoghue (1969 – present)
Emma Donoghue was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize in 2009 for her novel Room, which was released as a movie in 2015. Donoghue has also been nominated for an Academy Award.
Samuel Beckett (1906 – 1989)
Samuel Beckett’s works were most noted for their black humor and absurdism, both embodied in his play Waiting for Godot. In 1969, Beckett won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Jonathan Swift (1667 – 1745)
Beloved for his satire and wit, Jonathan Swift’s most important works include Gulliver’s Travels and A Modest Proposal. Swift was also a talented poet and political writer.