Stories from Ireland, the subtitle of Desmond Hogan's 1981 collection of short stories, Children of Lir, describes his writing as a whole in two distinct senses. The traditional voice of Irish storytellers reappears in Hogan's narratives, providing a distinctive lyricism that links the varied Irish characters whose memories form his stories and novels. Yet almost all of Hogan's stories were written outside Ireland; they are stories from Ireland, not simply of Ireland, often telling of travel and of escape from a confined society.

Desmond Hogan was born and educated in Ballinasloe, County Galway. His father owned a drapery shop, and Desmond was the second in William and Christina Connolly Hogan's family of five sons. After attending the local convent primary school, he moved in 1964 to the Catholic secondary school. He began writing at the age of nine, at first inventing plays to perform with friends during the school holidays...