Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1979-1993 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
6 sub-series
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Michael Curtin was born in Limerick in 1942 and educated at the Sexton Street Christian Brothers’ school. In the 1960s, having spent five years working in a cement plant, he emigrated to London to try his hand as a writer. Finding no success, he returned to Limerick, where the broadcaster David Hanly encouraged him to continue writing. Several of Curtin’s short stories were subsequently published in the New Irish Writing column in the Irish Press and one of them took first prize at Listowel Writers’ Week in 1972. His first novel, The Self-Made Men, a partly autobiographical account of immigrant life in England, was published in 1980 by André Deutsch. Five further novels followed: The Replay (1981), The League Against Christmas (1989), The Plastic Tomato Cutter (1991), The Cove Shivering Club (1996), and Sing! (2001). Many of Curtin’s stories are set in his native city of Limerick and are characterised by a darkly comic tone, which became Curtin’s trademark. Michael Curtin died in his native city in April 2016.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
This series contains Michael Curtin’s correspondence with publishers, literary agents, film and television production companies, artists' associations and others.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
The material is divided into six sub-series by correspondent type.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Unrestricted access to most items. A small number of documents contain personal information and are closed for 50 years. These items have been identified in the descriptive catalogue.
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English