Letters of a Successful T.D.

John B. Keane was born in Listowel in 1928. Listowel is a friendly Kerry town but like small towns throughout the world jobs are scarce. He joined the many one-way travellers to England. Eventually Keane returned to Listowel.

He had saved some money which enabled him to buy a public house in the town. Up to this his writing consisted of short stories, poems and a few articles. Now he returned to the theatre. Here his natural sense of characterization created the atmosphere for so many years lost to Irish letters. 'Sive', with the insistent and haunting drum beat of the song he wrote for it, swept the country. With the success of Sive, John B. Keane's natural ability for entertaining emerged in a new light. There were more plays - Sharon's Grave, The Highest House on the Mountain, The Man from Clare, Many Young Men of Twenty, The Year of the Hiker, and The Field. His success can be traced to one simple yet startling fact - he writes for the Irish people. The mirror that he holds is one of good humoured and honest reality, tinged with the magic of the storyteller.

John B. Keane looks around him and sees in everyday actions a wealth of traits ready-made for tickling and telling.