Padraic Colum

Padraic Colum was born in 1881 in Longford, Ireland, in the workhouse where his father worked, the first of eight children. He moved to Dublin as a young man and began writing poems and plays. He became part of the Irish Literary Revival, knew writers such as W. B. Yeats and Lady Gregory, and wrote plays for the theater that became the Abbey Theatre, including The Land (1905). He was also a friend of James Joyce. In 1912 he married Mary Gunning Maguire, a critic, and in 1914 they moved to the United States, where they spent most of the rest of their lives. Colum wrote many books for children that retell traditional stories, including The King of Ireland's Son, The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy, and The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles (1921), which was later cited as a Newbery Honor book. In 1922 he was commissioned to retell Hawaiian folklore for young people. He died in Enfield, Connecticut, in 1972.

Padraic Colum is also an author in the library: author page and works.

Faith: Faith not well documented; the Catholic Library Association gave him its Regina Medal in 1961. Source: Wikipedia