A Bit of a WriterBrendan Behan wrote over one hundred articles for Irish newspapers between 1951 and 1956 as he rose to international fame, with most of them written in a weekly column in the Irish Press. The articles reveal a serious writer capable of great comic set pieces and amusing yarns as well as thoughtful reflections on cultural and historical issues. They reflect his passion for working class Dublin life and the history and folklore of the city, as well as

Some are familiar

prisoners on remand

'Her plot immediately makes her stand out from the crowd

” -from the introduction by Alan Harrison

and four books of travel writing

ethnologists and anthropologists

Despite on-going opposition to the higher education of women

variety and historical interest anything that’s been attempted to date … the glory of the collection is the large number of items published here for the first time … a herculean effort by a lifetime collector of songs with an encyclopaedic knowledge of his material

who now styles himself Henry Foley

From his journalism grew his books

across the world by ship – within the major narratives of his gender and religious journeys

Lawrence and a lot of noses