English Original
Walter Macken (1915-1967) was a renowned Irish novelist, playwright, and actor, born in Galway. He began writing at the age of eight. In 1934, while still a student, he joined the Taibhdhearc theatre in Galway, where he met and fell in love with Peggy Kenny, a news editor six years his senior. Her father disapproved of the match, leading the couple to elope and marry in Dublin in 1937. They moved to London, where Macken worked as a door-to-door insurance agent, an experience he later depicted in his novel I Am Alone.
Returning to Galway in 1939, he became manager of the Taibhdhearc and began writing in both Irish and English. By 1946, his first English-language play, Mungo's Mansion, was successfully staged at Dublin's Abbey Theatre, and his first novel, Quench the Moon, was accepted for publication.
He joined the Abbey Theatre company in 1948 for a three-year period. His second novel, I Am Alone, was published in 1949. The following year, his third novel, Rain on the Wind, brought him international acclaim, winning the Book of the Month Club and Literary Guild awards. A successful US theatre tour inspired him to return to Galway to pursue a career as a full-time writer.
In 1957, he embarked on his most ambitious project: a trilogy of historical novels comprising Seek the Fair Land, The Silent People, and The Scorching Wind. In 1964, his first children's novel, Island of the Great Yellow Ox, became one of his most popular works. His final novel, Brown Lord of the Mountain, was published just before his death in April 1967.
Over his career, Macken produced a significant body of work: ten novels, seven plays, three short story collections, and two children's books. Most of his novels have been translated into multiple languages. Two posthumous collections of his short stories were published in the 1990s.
中文翻译
瓦尔特·马可肯（1915-1967）是爱尔兰著名的小说家、剧作家及演员，出生于戈尔威。他八岁起开始写作。1934年，还是学生时，他加入了戈尔威的泰弗雅克剧院，并在那里结识并爱上了比他年长六岁的新闻编辑佩姬·肯尼。由于佩姬的父亲反对这段恋情，两人于1937年在都柏林私奔结婚。随后他们移居伦敦，马可肯在那里做了一名挨家挨户推销保险的代理人，这段经历后来被他写入了小说《我孤身一人》。
1939年返回戈尔威后，他出任泰弗雅克剧院经理，并开始用爱尔兰语和英语进行创作。到1946年，他的第一部英语戏剧《芒戈的大宅》在都柏林的阿贝剧院成功上演，他的第一部小说《熄灭月亮》也获准出版。
1948年，他加入阿贝剧院剧团，为期三年。他的第二部小说《我孤身一人》于1949年出版。次年，他的第三部小说《风中雨》为他赢得了国际声誉，并获得了“每月一书俱乐部”和“文学协会”奖项。一次成功的美国戏剧巡演促使他决定返回戈尔威，成为一名全职作家。
1957年，他开始了其最具雄心的创作计划：一部由《寻找正义之地》、《沉默的人们》和《炙热的风》组成的历史小说三部曲。1964年，他的第一部儿童小说《大黄牛岛》成为他最受欢迎的作品之一。他的最后一部小说《大山里的布朗老爷》于1967年4月去世前出版。
在其职业生涯中，马可肯创作了大量作品：十部小说、七部戏剧、三部短篇小说集和两本儿童读物。他的大部分小说已被翻译成多种语言。他的两部短篇小说集于20世纪90年代在其去世后出版。