Patrick Galvin

Patrick Galvin was born in Cork in 1927. He sold broadsheets in pubs in his early childhood before leaving school in 1939. After being employed as a messenger boy and projectionist, he traveled to Belfast to join the American Army but enlisted in the RAF Bomber Command instead. He served in the UK, Middle East and Africa. He is an acclaimed poet, playwright and satirist and is a member of Aosdána. His poetry, held at the Library of Congress, Washington D.C., has been broadcast on RTÉ and the BBC, while several of his plays have been staged by the Abbey Theatre.  His first screenplay Boy in the Smoke was televised by the BBC. He has written his memoirs, Song For a Poor Boy, Song For a Fly Boy and Song For a Raggy Boy, which were published as The Raggy Boy Trilogy by New Island. He also wrote the screenplay for the film Song for a Raggy Boy, starring Aidan Quinn.