The story of Mark O’Brien is the story of the triumph of the human spirit. At the age of six, O’Brien was paralyzed by a severe case of polio, forcing him to spend the next two years in an iron lung. Rather than send him to a nursing home where the life expectancy was 18 months, his family brought him home. As his parents grew older, they eventually had to put Mark in a nursing home. O’Brien calls these years the two worst years of his life. He became involved in an independent living program, giving him access to the outside world. His health allowed him to commute to classes at the University of California at Berkeley by power chair or be wheeled to class by a hired aide. O’Brien earned a degree in English in 1982. As he was working toward his masters in journalism, he was struck with post-polio syndrome. His health deteriorated to such a degree that he was forced to drop out of school and spend both day and night in an iron lung. Still, O’Brien has gone on to become a contributing editor for Pacific News Service and his poetry has been widely published in journals and anthologies. His wring has appeared in Whole Earth Review, The Fessenden Review, The Sun, Margin, Saint Andrew’s Review and Tight. His chapbook, Breathing, was published in 1990, and his autobiography will be published by Kadonsha America in 1997. He is also the subject of Jessica Yu’s recent documentary., Breathing Lessons, which has won 15 film festival awards, and been nominated for an Academy Award since its debut at Sundance. It will be aired on Cinemax this March.

O’Brien’s grandmother, Bridget O’Hanlon, left the Aran Islands when she was eight. Her mother’s family are the Kerrys from Co. Cork. O’Brien currently lives in Berkeley, California.