September 17, 1903

On this day in 1903, Irish American writer Frank O’Connor was born in Cork, Ireland. In 1918, O’Connor joined the Irish Republican Army and helped fight in the war for independence. However, he opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 and was imprisoned for being one of the Anti-Treaty combatants. After his release, O’Connor served briefly as a managing director at Dublin’s Abbey Theater, but then accepted a teaching position in the U.S. Many of O’Connor’s short stories were published in The New Yorker, for which he received much acclaim. His memoir, An Only Child, was also very successful.