Flann O’Brien was born Brian O’Nolan on October 5, 1911. His father, Michael Victor O’Nolan, was a customs and excise officer with a passion for Irish language and literature. He met his wife, Agnes Gormley, while posted in Strabane, County Tyrone. O’Brien was born in Strabane and though the family moved frequently for his father’s work, they returned there often to be near Agnes's family. O’Brien had eleven siblings: Gearóid, Ciarán, Roisin, Fergus, Kevin, Maeve, Nessa, Nuala, Sheila, Niall, and Micheál. He was the third oldest, and he remained close to many of his siblings throughout his life. The O'Nolan children were homeschooled for part of their childhood. His father created a correspondence course to educate the children while he was traveling for work. Eventually the family moved permanently to Dublin, where O’Brien and some of his siblings attended the Synge Street School and Blackrock College. He earned a leaving certificate from Blackrock in 1929 with honors in Irish, English, Latin, and history.

O’Brien continued his education at University College Dublin, studying Irish, English, and German. He wrote for student publications such as Comhthrom Féinne and participated in debates at the Literary and Historical Society. Earning a baccalaureate degree in 1932, he went on to a master’s degree, for which he wrote a thesis, Nádúir-Fhilíocht na Gaedhilge (Nature in Irish poetry), in 1935.

After finishing his education, O’Brien began his career in the Irish Civil Service, while writing on the side -- creating a magazine, Blather, with his siblings, and writing his first novel, At Swim-Two-Birds. After the death of his father in 1937 he became responsible for the financial well being of the rest of his family.

At Swim-Two-Birds was published in 1939, establishing himself under the pseudonym “Flann O’Brien” for the first time, but it did not sell well, and his second book, The Third Policeman, was not accepted for publication. Around this time, he also began to write the humorous columns that would become An Cruiskeen Lawn, using a different pseudonym, Myles na gCopaleen. His identity as na gCopaleen was kept largely secret.

In the 1940s, O’Brien wrote and published another book, An Béal Bocht, which was a success, as well as several plays. He married Evelyn McDonnell in 1948. In the late 1940s he struggled with his writing and had increasing difficulties with his work in the Civil Service. He was forced to retire in 1951.

Throughout the 1960s, his health declined, due in part to his alcoholism, but his writing output increased. He wrote two more novels, The Hard Life and The Dalkey Archive, and started another, Slattery’s Sago Saga. He also produced scripts for radio, television, and the stage, and a number of his works were adapted for dramatization.

In 1965 O’Brien was diagnosed with throat cancer, and he died of a heart attack on April 1, 1966.

Sources

"Brian Ó Nualláin," Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/163343204/brian-%C3%B3_nuall%C3%A1in

Costello, Peter and Peter Van de Kamp. Flann O'Brien: An Illustrated Biography. London: Bloomsbury, 1987.

Clune, Anne. "O'Nolan, Brian (‘Flann O'Brien’)," Cambridge Dictionary of Irish Biography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.

Evelyn O'Nolan was born Evelyn McDonnell in Finglas, County Dublin in 1909, to Joseph and Margaret McDonnell. She met Flann O'Brien when she worked as typist for the Roads Section of the Department of Local Government, where O'Brien was the Principal of the Town Planning Section. He proposed to her in 1948 and they were married on December 2, 1948, in a small ceremony at Rathmines Parish Church. They resided in Blackrock and Stillorgan and never had children. After O'Brien's death in 1966, Evelyn managed his estate, including the release of his unpublished novel, The Third Policeman, until she died on April 18, 1995, in Dublin.

Sources

Costello, Peter and Peter Van de Kamp. Flann O'Brien: An Illustrated Biography. London: Bloomsbury, 1987.

Clune, Anne. "O'Nolan, Brian (‘Flann O'Brien’)," Cambridge Dictionary of Irish Biography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.

"Evelyn McDonnell Ó Nualláin," Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/163343205/evelyn-%C3%B3_nuall%C3%A1in

Micheál Ó Nualláin was born on July 4, 1928, to Michael Victor O'Nolan and Agnes (Gormley) O'Nolan. He was the second youngest of twelve children, and was seventeen years younger than his brother, the writer Flann O'Brien. Despite their age difference, the two had a close relationship. They shared a bedroom in their parents' house for many years, and Ó Nualláin observed his brother writing what would become his first novel, At Swim-Two-Birds there. Throughout their lives, the two worked closely together, Ó Nualláin drawing and painting portraits of O'Brien and his friends as well as often illustrating his work.

Ó Nualláin attended Blackrock College and the National College of Art, for which he won a scholarship. He graduated from there in 1952. In the same year, he won a prize for art at the Helsinki Olympics.

During the course of his career, Ó Nualláin worked as a freelance artist, an art teacher, and an art inspector for the Department of Education, a position from which he retired in 1993. His art was displayed in exhibits in Ireland and Canada, where it was shown jointly with the work of Jack Yeats. He published illustrations and cartoons under the pseudonym Kilroy.

He married Ann Hardiman in 1968 and they had four children: Dara, Brian, Oisín, and Aonghus. Ó Nualláin died on July 11, 2016.

Sources

Kelly, Olivia. "Artist Micheál Ó Nualláin, brother of Flann O’Brien, dies at 88," The Irish Times, 2016 July 11.

"Micheál Ó Nualláin: Painter, cartoonist and fabulous polymath," The Irish Times, 2016 July 23.