Dublin author James Plunkett, best known for his gritty novel Strumpet City,has died in a nursing home aged 83.
Born James Plunkett Kelly in Sandymount Dublin on May 21st, 1920, he was educated at the Christian Brothers, Synge Street, and then the Municipal School of Music, Camden Street, where he played the violin and viola.
He began his working life as a clerk in the Dublin Gas Company and later became heavily involved in the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU), run by Jim Larkin.
He began writing in the 1940s, contributing short prose to The Bell
Following a visit to the Soviet Union in 1955, he was met with uproar from a number of quarters, including the Catholic Standard, which demanded his resignation from secretaryship of the ITGWU. Despite receiving the support of his union, he resigned voluntarily and joined RTÉ as a drama assistant.
There he produced a number of radio plays, the most famous of which, Big Jim, about Jim Larkin, was later extended into The Risen Peopleand produced at the Abbey in 1958 before touring London and Belfast.
His masterpiece, Strumpet City, was first published in 1969. It was later adapted for television by RTÉ, becoming a hugely popular series starring Cyril Cusack and Peter O'Toole.
His other novels include Farewell Companions(1977) and The Circus Animals(1990). He also published two short story collections, The Trusting and the Maimedand Collected Short Stories, while his essay compilations include The Gems She Woreand The Boy on the Back Wall.
He was also a member of Aosdána.
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