author

Seumas O'Kelly

d. 1918

An Irish journalist and storyteller whose work mixed sharp social observation with deep feeling, he is best remembered for fiction and plays written during Ireland’s turbulent early 20th century. His short story "The Weaver’s Grave" is especially admired and has helped keep his name alive long after his death in 1918.

1 Audiobook

Waysiders, Stories of Connacht

Waysiders, Stories of Connacht

by Seumas O'Kelly

About the author

Born James Kelly in Loughrea, County Galway, Seumas O'Kelly became known as a journalist, fiction writer, poet, and playwright. He worked for newspapers including the Southern Star and later the Leinster Leader in Naas, where he served as editor, before writing for Nationality, a paper linked to Sinn Féin.

His writing ranged across short stories, novels, and drama, and it often brought ordinary Irish lives into focus with wit, sympathy, and a strong sense of place. Among his best-known works, The Weaver’s Grave is widely regarded as one of the finest Irish short stories.

O'Kelly died in Dublin on November 14, 1918. Though he is not as widely read today as some of his contemporaries, he remains an important figure in Irish literary and journalistic history, remembered for humane, lively writing and for his connection to the cultural and political life of his time.