Although born in America, Donn-Byrne was an Irishman who was born there because his parents were on a business trip. He was soon returned to Ireland. He was educated at the University of Dublin, the Sorbonne and the University of Leipzig. In 1911, he returned to America and began working for the Catholic Encyclopaedia, among others, and began to contribute poems and stories to periodicals. His first short story, Battle appeared in 1914. His first novel, The Stranger's Banquet was published in 1919. He became a prolific writer after that. Nevertheless, he began to have financial difficulties which forced him and his wife to return to Ireland. In June 1928, he was killed in an automobile accident when he was only 38. His many works include The Wind Bloweth (1922), The Changeling and Other Stories (1923), Brother Soul (1927), Destiny Bay (1928), Crusade (1928) and the posthumous works Field of Honor (1929) and The Hound of Ireland and Other Stories (1935). |
