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MacKenna, John (1952- ), fiction writer. Born in Castledermot, Co. Kildare, and educated at UCD, he worked as a producer in RTÉ. In 1976 he published The Occasional Optimist, the first of a number of story-collections set in his native landscape. The novel The Fallen (1993) and A Year of Our Lives (1995) use the multiple narratives also employed in Clare (1994), a novel based on the life of the poet John Clare.
John MacKenna (b. 1952) is an Irish playwright and novelist.
MacKenna taught for a number of years before working as a producer at RTÉ Radio in 1980. Between then and 2002, when he left the station to spend more time writing, and acting with Meeting Lane Theatre Company, he worked in a number of areas - including music, education, current affairs, documentaries, features and religion - as a senior producer and commissioning editor.
Since then, MacKenna has produced several memorable series, including work on the Amish people of Pennsylvania; the Shaker Community of Sabbath Day Lake; a ground-breaking series called "Someone Has To Do It" and the highly-regarded "Secret Gardens of the Heart," which followed a young woman through the last months of her life. His radio documentary series on Leonard Cohen, "How The Heart Approaches What It Yearns", won him a Jacob's Radio Award.[1] .
He is the author of three novels, "Clare", "The Last Fine Summer" and "A Haunted Heart"; two collections of short stories, "The Fallen" and "A Year of Our Lives"; a volume of poetry and a biography of Ernest Shackleton. His memoir, "Things You Should Know", was published by New Island Books in October 2006.
MacKenna writes for, directs and acts with Mend and Makedo Theatre Co and his most recent works for that company are "Breathless" (2005)and "My Father's Life" (2006). His most recent theatrical work, "Who by Fire" ,for the Water to Wine Theatre Company is based on the experiences of a Holocaust survivor, and uses Leonard Cohen's songs[2] the mood for a chilling exposition of the continuing threat of totalitarianism. It has toured Ireland to great popular acclaim, and at the time of writing is in preparation for a transfer to Gibraltar in July 2007.
He is currently working on another short-story collection, scheduled for publication in the autumn of 2007. Among the awards his books have won are the Irish Times Fiction Award and the C Day Lewis Award. He has also taught a number of courses in media studies and creative writing.
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 | Irish Literature Companion. The Concise Oxford Companion to Irish Literature. Copyright © 1996, 2000, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "John MacKenna". Read more |
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