Macken, Walter

Born 1915, in Galway, Ireland; died Apr. 22, 1967. Irish writer.

Macken began his career as a writer while working for the Abbey Theater in Dublin, where his play Mungo’s Mansion was staged in 1946. His play Home Is the Hero was also successful. Macken’s short stories in the collections Green Hills (1956; Russian translation, 1958) and God Made Sunday (1962; Russian translation, 1964) depict the harsh life of Irish fishermen and their struggle against the forces of nature. His novel Rain on the Wind (1950; Russian translation, 1960) expresses faith in the strength of the Irish people.

Macken is the author of a historical trilogy, comprising the novels Seek the Fair Land (1959), which deals with Cromwell’s invasion of Ireland in 1649–50; The Silent People (1962), which is devoted to the famine of the 1840’s; and The Scorching Wind (1964), which depicts the Easter Rising.