Francis MacManus, Novelist, Is Born

Francis MacManus (8 March 1909 – 27 November 1965) was an Irish novelist and broadcaster.

Born in Kilkenny, MacManus was educated in the local Christian Brothers school and later at St. Patrick’s College, Dublin and University College Dublin. After teaching for eighteen years at the Synge Street CBS in Dublin, MacManus joined the staff of Radio Éireann (precursor to RTÉ, the Irish national broadcasting entity) in 1948 as Director of Features.

MacManus began writing while still teaching and first published a trilogy set in Penal times and concerning the life of Donnchadh Ruadh Mac Conmara, an author of Irish poetry in the Irish-language. The trilogy comprises the novels Stand and Give Challenge (1934), Candle for the Proud (1936) and Men Withering (1939).