David Marcus was an Irish Jewish

History of the Jews in Ireland

The history of the Jews in Ireland extends back nearly a thousand years. Although the Jewish community has always been small in numbers , it is well established and has generally been well-accepted into Irish life.-Early history:The earliest reference to the Jews in Ireland was in the year 1079...

 editor and writer who was a lifelong advocate and editor of Irish fiction.

Life and times

Born in County Cork

County Cork

County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...

 in 1924, Marcus was the much-loved editor of numerous anthologies

Anthology

An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...

 of Irish fiction and poetry, including the Phoenix Irish Short Stories collections.

Other notable projects included the page New Irish Writing for the Irish Press, which provided a forum for aspiring Irish authors, publishing most of the most important names in Irish fiction, many for the first time, including Dermot Bolger

Dermot Bolger

Dermot Bolger is an Irish novelist, playwright and poet born in Finglas, a suburb of Dublin.His work is often concerned with the articulation of the experiences of working-class characters who, for various reasons, feel alienated from society. Bolger questions the relevance of traditional...

, Ita Daly, Anne Enright

Anne Enright

Anne Enright is a Booker Prize-winning Irish author. She has published essays, short stories, a non-fiction book and four novels. Before her novel The Gathering won the 2007 Man Booker Prize, Enright had a low profile in Ireland and the United Kingdom, although her books were favourably reviewed...

, Neil Jordan

Neil Jordan

Neil Patrick Jordan is an Irish filmmaker and novelist. He won an Academy Award for The Crying Game.- Early life :...

, Claire Keegan

Claire Keegan

Claire Keegan is an Irish short story writer. She was born in County Wicklow in 1968, the youngest of a large Roman Catholic family. She travelled to New Orleans, Louisiana when she was seventeen and studied English and Political Science at Loyola University...

, John McGahern

John McGahern

John McGahern was one of the most important Irish authors of the latter half of the twentieth century. Before his death in 2006 he was hailed as "the greatest living Irish novelist" by The Observer.-Life:...

, Bernard MacLaverty

Bernard MacLaverty

Bernard MacLaverty is a writer of fiction. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 14 September 1942, and lived there until 1975 when he moved to Scotland with his wife, Madeline, and four children...

, Eilis Ni Dhuibhne

Eilis Ni Dhuibhne

Éilís Ní Dhuibhne is an Irish novelist and short-story writer who writes both in Irish and English. She is also known as Elisabeth O'Hara.-Biography:...

, Joseph O'Connor

Joseph O'Connor

Joseph Victor O'Connor is an Irish novelist. He is known for his 2002 historical novel Star of the Sea. Before success as an author he was a journalist with the Sunday Tribune newspaper and Esquire magazine...

, Colm Tóibín

Colm Tóibín

Colm Tóibín is a multi-award-winning Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic, and, most recently, poet.Tóibín is Leonard Milberg Lecturer in Irish Letters at Princeton University in New Jersey and succeeded Martin Amis as professor of creative writing at the...

 and William Wall

William Wall

William "Bill" Wall is an Irish novelist, poet and short story writer. He was born in Cork City in 1955, but grew up in the coastal village of Whitegate. He received his secondary education at the Christian Brothers School in Midleton. He progressed to University College Cork where he graduated in...

. He was, in the words of Fintan O'Toole "the single most important literary editor in Ireland in the second half of the 20th century".
His 1986 novel, A Land Not Theirs, a fictionalized account of the experiences of the Cork Jewish community during the Irish War of Independence

Irish War of Independence

The Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...

 was a bestseller. In 1986, his second novel, which drew on his experiences among the Cork Jewish community, A Land in Flames was also a popular success.

In 2001, Marcus published Oughtobiography – Leaves from the diary of a hyphenated Jew, an autobiographical review of his life as an Irish Jew and as a figure in the field of Irish literature.

On 3 June 2005, he was awarded an honorary Degree of Doctor of Literature by the National University of Ireland, University College, Cork

Marcus was married to fellow Irish novelist, Ita Daly, and lived in Rathgar

Rathgar

Rathgar is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland, lying about 3 kilometres south of the city centre.-Amenities:Rathgar is largely a quiet suburb with good amenities, including primary and secondary schools, nursing homes, child-care and sports facilities, and good public transport to the city centre...

 in Dublin.

External links

• Profile of Marcus at "Irish Writers Online"
• Irish P.E.N. Special Award citation of David Marcus
• Obituary
• Farewell", tribute poem