Sam McAughtry Biography

Northern Irish short-story writer, born in Belfast. He left school at the age of 14, joined the Royal Air Force in 1940 and eventually became a flying officer. Immediately after the war he worked as a builder in London; he returned to Belfast in 1947 and joined the Ministry of Agriculture. McAughtry came to the attention of the Irish public with his first book The Sinking of the Kenbane Head (1976), an autobiographical novel which he has described as his ‘memorial to a loved brother and my tribute to a cruelly exploited generation of Irish mothers. It is also a researched account of a famous sea battle, and an acknowledgement of the bravery of merchant seamen in wartime.’ He followed this with three collections of short stories, Play It Again Sam (1978), Blind Spot and Other Stories (1979), and Belfast No. 1 (1981). McAughtry has also worked as a journalist for The Irish Times and has become a well-known broadcaster on both radio and television in Ireland.