Frank O' Connor was born Michael O' Donovan in 1903 in Cork, Ireland. He was the only child Minnie and Michael O' Donovan. Financial issues led to many problems with his family. His father was a drunk, who would often be out of control. So much so that he would sell Minnie's belongings for drinking money. His mother was a maid, and his father just kept putting the family into debt by overusing his credit. His father did not like the fact that O' Connor wasn't "one of the boys." His father called O' Connor a sissy and told him he was weak, because he would rather read than play with the boys. This led to O' Connor forming close ties with his mother. O' Connor was a "mommy's boy" and was proud of it. He hated how his father treated the person he idolized, yet his mother did not favor O' Connor's hateful remarks about his father. It is very common in Irish culture for a mother to be close to her son. As a refuge from this family life, O' Connor wanted to escape it by being educated. He even managed to teach himself German and French. He was a member of the Irish Republican Army and felt a strong obligation to protect his beloved country. He was a prisoner of war at the age of twenty. He began his literary career at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. There he was appointed the board of directors, and wrote some plays. During his theater stint, he married Evelyn Bowen Speaight in 1038. A year later he resigned because the man who appointed his position died. In 1941 he worked with the British Broadcasting Corporation. He had an illustrious career writing many works, and teaching at Northwestern, Harvard, and Stanford. He died on March 10, 1966.