Brian Leyden (born 1960) is an Irish writer from Arigna,

County Roscommon "Steadfast Irish heart" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Roscommon.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Connacht , subdi ...

and currently living in

County Sligo County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in the county. Sligo County Council is the loc ...

. He has published the best selling memoir ''The Home Place'', the short story collection ''Departures'', and the novel ''Death and Plenty''. He won the

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 ( ga, RTÉ Raidió 1) is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for th ...

Francis MacManus Francis MacManus (8 March 1909 – 27 November 1965) was an Irish novelist and broadcaster. Life and writings Born in Kilkenny, MacManus was educated in the local Christian Brothers school and later at St. Patrick's College, Dublin and Universi ...

Award in 1988 for ''The Last Mining Village''. He has written extensively about his home area for RTÉ's

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and the

Documentary on One The ''RTÉ Documentary on One'', or ''Doc on One'', is an anthology documentary radio series broadcast by Irish public service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann Raidi (; ; also written Ragdi; born August, 1938) is a Tibetan politician o ...

: ''No Meadows in Manhattan'', ''Even the Walls Were Sweatin’'', ''The Closing of the Gaiety Cinema in Carrick-on-Shannon'' and '' Practical Rooms and Pre-Fabs''. He co-wrote the original screenplay for the feature film ''Black Ice'', which premiered at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2013.

Early and Working Life

Brian Leyden grew up in the coal mining valley of Arigna, a place and a way of life memorialised in his writing. He was educated in

Drumshanbo Vocational School Drumshanbo (, ridge of the old huts) is a small town situated in the heart of County Leitrim, Ireland. Drumshanbo is surrounded by a scenic area of soft rolling hills, woodlands, lakes and the Sliabh an Iarainn and Arigna mountains. It is a wel ...

(1978) and graduated from

Sligo RTC The Institute of Technology, Sligo (ITS; ga, Institiúid Teicneolaíochta, Sligeach) was an institute of technology, located in Sligo, Ireland. In April 2022, it was formally dissolved, and its functions became part of Atlantic Technological ...

with a Diploma in Fine Art (1983). Since working his way through college with the Sligo VEC & Arts Council of Ireland funded ''Murals in Schools Scheme'', he has worked continuously in the arts, including the positions of Writer in Residence with Leitrim and Sligo Libraries, mentoring for the NUI Galway BA in Creative Writing program, and the Carlow University, Pittsburgh, PA MFA Irish Residential program. Reading tours include Ireland and its Diaspora Writers & Musician’s Tour of Germany (1996), Newport Festival Rhode Island, and The Irish Writers' Centre ''Peregrine Readings'' (2010). His libretto for the short opera Humpty Dumpty by Ian Wilson premiered at the Lancaster International Concert Series at Lancaster University, England in 2010.

Works

* ''Departures'' (1992), short stories. * ''Death and Plenty'' (1996), novel. * ''The Home Place'' (2002) memoir. * ''Sweet Old New World: New and Selected Stories'' (2015), short stories. * ''Summer of ’63'' (2016), novel.

Awards

* Francis MacManus Short Story Award for The Last Mining Village (1988) * Jacobs Award for ''No Meadows in Manhattan'' (1991). * Arts Council Bursary in Literature (1994). * Heinrich Böll Cottage Residency (1998), * Arts Council Writer in Residence ‘Leitrim’ (2000). * Norman Mailer Writers Colony (at Provincetown, MA) Scholarship (2009) * Arts Council Travel & Training Award (2009) * Sligo County Libraries Writer-in-Residence (2010) * Sidney Brown Memorial Award (2012) for the musical adaptation ''Emerald''. Music by Denise Wright. Book and lyrics by Chris Burgess. Based on the novel ''Death and Plenty'' by Brian Leyden. * Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, Sound and Vision Award (2014) * The Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon "Literary Bursary" (2014) * Culture Ireland Travel Award, USA, (2017)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leyden, Brian 1960 births Living people 20th-century Irish novelists Irish screenwriters Irish male screenwriters Irish male short story writers 20th-century Irish short story writers People from Arigna People from County Sligo Irish male novelists 21st-century Irish novelists 21st-century Irish short story writers 20th-century Irish male writers 21st-century Irish male writers Alumni of the Institute of Technology, Sligo