Frank Delaney
Francis James Joseph Raphael Delaney (24 October 1942 – 21 February 2017) was an Irish novelist, journalist and broadcaster.[1] He was the author of The New York Times best-seller Ireland,[2] the non-fiction book Simple Courage: A True Story of Peril on the Sea and many other works of fiction, non-fiction and collections.[3] He was born in Thomastown, Tipperary, Ireland.
Frank Delaney | |
|---|---|
Delaney in March 2008 | |
| Born | 24 October 1942 Thomastown, Tipperary, Ireland |
| Died | 21 February 2017 (aged 74) Litchfield County, Connecticut, USA |
| Occupation | Novelist, journalist, broadcaster |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Notable works | Ireland James Joyce’s Odyssey A Walk in the Western Isles Simple Courage: A True Story of Peril on the Sea Tipperary Shannon The Amethysts The Celts (BBC) Goodbye, Mr. Chips (screenplay) Bookshelf Word of Mouth The Book Show The Frank Delaney Show BBC & Sky TV |
| Spouse | Diane Meier (2002-); divorced: Eilish Kellier, Susan Collier, Sally Vickers |
| Children | 3 |
Early years
Delaney was born in Thomastown, Tipperary, Ireland, the son of Edward Delaney and Josephine O’Sullivan, both teachers who were among the founders of the national teachers’ union. His father was also a published writer, who vetted books for the national library.
Broadcasting career
In 1970, Delaney became an anchor and newsreader for the Irish state radio and television network RTÉ. Within a very few years he was invited to join the BBC out of Dublin, as their first Irish-born news reporter. He became, essentially, their Irish war-correspondent, reporting, with his distinctive brand of neutrality, on the intense period of violence known as the Troubles.
After five years of covering the carnage of his divided country, the BBC transferred Delaney to London, where he lived for more than twenty five years, helming their arts broadcasting on both radio and television. He was the voice of The Royal Opera and Royal Ballet, and host and contributor to the long running World Service show on arts and artists, Meridian.
In 1978, Delaney created Bookshelf for BBC Radio 4, a weekly programme, which covered books, writers and the business of publishing. Between Bookshelf, the Frank Delaney Show and his own Book Show for Sky, it is estimated that he has interviewed more than 3500 writers, from Somerset Maugham to Christopher Isherwood, Margaret Atwood, Stephen King and Anthony Burgess.
On television, Delaney wrote and presented for Omnibus, the BBC's weekly arts series. and hosted his own talk show, Frank Delaney in the early 1980s, featuring cultural and literary personalities, from Tom Stoppard and Doris Lessing, to members of The Rolling Stones.
Delaney wrote and presented The Celts in 1986, a six-part BBC television series tracing the origins, accomplishments and migration of the race known as the Celts. Challenging their reputation as uncivilized and wild, The Celts presented evidence of a sophisticated and artistic race, and was distributed in more than forty countries. In DVD and streamed services, it remained in active distribution across the world for more than twenty years. A book of the same name followed in 1987.
Delaney created and presented Word of Mouth in 1992. One of the BBC's longest running radio programmes, Word of Mouth was hosted by Michael Rosen after Mr. Delaney’s move to the United States. Today, it continues to review all aspects of the spoken word and the growth of the English language, from slang, acronyms, jargon, poetry and etymology through time and society, just as Mr. Delaney imagined it thirty years ago.
Over the years, Delaney wrote, presented, and created a variety of radio and television documentaries including specials on James Joyce, Robert Graves, Ernest Hemingway in Paris, and the industry that surrounded the work of Shakespeare.
He presented the weekly show, The Book Show on the Sky News satellite channel for many years. And, with his wife, Diane Meier producing, wrote and presented a series of radio documentaries for the BBC on Emily Dickenson, Robert Frost, and the New York Beat Poets.
Writing career
His first book, James Joyce's Odyssey (1981), a guide to the Dublin of Ulysses, was published to critical acclaim and became a best-seller in the UK and Ireland. [6]
Over the next twenty-seven years, he wrote roughly thirty books of fiction, non-fiction, one novella, and a number of short stories, including The New York Times bestseller, Ireland, tracing his home country, in myth, legend, history and memory.
In addition to his own books, he also edited and compiled many important collections of essays and poetry.
The screenplay for an adaptation of Goodbye, Mr. Chips (2002), was written for and broadcast on ITV in Britain and on Masterpiece Theater in the United States. His articles have been published by newspapers across the States, the UK and Ireland, including The London Times, The Irish Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Op-ed pages of The New York Times.[3] He was a frequent public speaker, and was a contributor and guest on many National Public Radio (NPR) programmes.
At the time of his death, he was working on a biography of Saint Patrick and, with his wife, Diane, a screenplay from his book, Telling the Pictures.
Other work
Frank Delaney served as the literary director of the Edinburgh Festival. He has been a Man Booker Prize judge. He was president of the Samuel Johnson Society (following his landmark book, A Walk Through the Western Isles, following in the footsteps of Boswell and Johnson), and was president of the UK Book Trust.
In support of his beloved Ulysses, Mr. Delaney appeared on stage for countless Bloomsday celebrations across the country on radio and television, and in person in New York, California, and Philadelphia as well as appearing on myriad NPR programmes, through the years.
He was a candidate for his own PhD at Brooks College, Oxford, where he was the first writer to be invited to study for his doctorate based on his own work.
On Bloomsday 2010, Frank Delaney launched Re:Joyce, a series of short weekly podcasts that go page-by-page through James Joyce's Ulysses, discussing its allusions, references and historical context. These are housed on www.frankdelaney.com. At the time of his death, Re:Joyce accounted for more than 2 Million downloads.
Personal life
Over the course of his life, Delaney lived in Ireland, England, and the United States.
In 1966, he married Eilish Kelliher, with whom he had three sons, and from whom he divorced in one of the first public divorces in his home country. Subsequently, he married the renowned English textile designer, Susan Collier, and a therapist, Sally Vickers.
In 2001 Delaney moved to the United States to live with marketing executive, Diane Meier. In 2002 they married, and lived in New York City and Litchfield County, Connecticut.
He was studying for both his American citizenship and his PhD at the time of his death.
Bibliography
Fiction[edit]
- The Last Storyteller (2012, Random House)
- The Matchmaker of Kenmare (2011, Random House)
- Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show (2010, Random House)
- Shannon, A Novel (2009, Random House)
- Tipperary, A Novel (2007, Random House)
- Ireland, A Novel (2005, HarperCollins & Time Warner)
- At Ruby's (2001, HarperCollins)
- Jim Hawkins and the Curse of Treasure Island (2001, Orion) I don’t know why this is a link. And the others aren’t. Every one of these entries could be linked, as they all have representation on the Internet Or to Amazon. I assume they should all be, or all not. As below.
- Pearl (1999, HarperCollins)
- Desire and Pursuit (1998, HarperCollins)
- A Stranger in their Midst (1995, HarperCollins)
- Telling the Pictures (1994, HarperCollins)
- The Sins of the Mothers (1992, HarperCollins)
- My Dark Rosaleen (1989, CenturyHutchinson)
- The Amethysts (1977, HarperCollins) - This book is listed as 1977 but it IS 1998 - The info is wrong. And therefore, so is the positioning.
Non-fiction[edit]
- Undead (2011, RosettaBooks)
- Simple Courage: A True Story of Peril on the Sea (2006, Random House)
- A Walk to the Western Isles: After Boswell and Johnson (1993, HarperCollins)
- Legends of the Celts (1989, Hodder & Stoughton)
- A Walk in the Dark Ages (1988, HarperCollins)
- The Celts (1986, Hodder & Stoughton)
- Betjeman Country (1983, Hodder & Stoughton)
- James Joyce's Odyssey (1981, Hodder & Stoughton)
Collections[edit]
- The Folio Society/Hutchinson Book of Essays (1990, Folio Society & CenturyHutchinson)
- The Folio Book of Irish Short Stories (1999, Folio Society)
- The Poems of Christy Brown (1982, Secker and Warburg)
- The Landleaguers by Anthony Trollope (Folio Society)
- Short Stories from the Strand (Folio Society)
- The Novels of James Kennaway (1981, Edinburgh, Mainstream)
- The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley (Folio Society)
- Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson (Folio Society)
- Caitriona by Robert Louis Stevenson (1988, Folio Society)
- Silver Apples, Golden Apples; Best Loved Irish Verse (1987, Blackstaff Press)
Screenplays[edit]
- Goodbye, Mr. Chips (2003, from the James Hilton book, directed by Stuart Orme. Aired on ITV in Great Britian and Masterpiece Theatre. PBS, North America)
- Across the River and into the Trees (2001, from the Ernest Hemingway novella, for Working Title Television, London.)
- Telling the Pictures (1995, from Delaney's own novel, Spikings Entertainment, Los Angeles; New screenplay, with Diane Meier, Torridon Films 2016 )
- My Dark Rosaleen (1993, From Delaney's own novella, endowed by the European Script Fund)
Podcasts[edit]
- Re:Joyce, weekly podcast on James Joyce's "Ulysses" (2010–2017, planned until 2026,[8] www.frankdelaney.com)
References
- • ^ Jason Wright, 'Frank Delaney obituary'. The Guardian, 28 March 2017, accessed 28 March 2023
- ^ Hero sets forth for the love of the Irish – USATODAY.com
- ^ Jump up to:a b The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Contributor: Holy Rollers and Papal Perfectas
- ^ Frank Delaney's top 10 Irish novels | Books | guardian.co.uk
- ^ Jump up to:a b The Savvy Reader[permanent dead link]
- ^ "The Celts" (1987)
- ^ "Masterpiece Theatre | Goodbye, Mr. Chips | Essays + Interviews | An interview with the producers". Archived from the original on 2 April 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
- ^ "ReJoyce" episode 321 – "Bottoms Up!", published May 25, 2016, accessed August 22, 2016