John M. Feehan

John M. Feehan (8 September 1916 – 25 May 1991) was an Irish author and publisher. The eldest son of a schoolmaster, Feehan was born in Dualla, County Tipperary.

Early life and career

He entered secondary schooling at Rockwell College and later attended University College Galway.^[1]

Feehan joined the Irish Army and reached the rank of captain before resigning in 1945. He had four children. He founded the successful Cork-based publishing house Mercier Press in 1944 and served as its managing director. In 1946, he published This Tremendous Lover by Dom Eugene Boylan which sold over a million copies. At the Frankfurt Book Fair he secured the translation rights of German books on philosophy and religion that sold well. In the 1960s he launched a successful range of paperbacks on Irish literature, culture, religion and history.^[2]

Writing

In 1972, Feehan wrote Tomorrow To Be Brave which recounted his wife’s life and death by cancer. He explored Ireland on foot and by boat, writing a number of books.^{[citation needed]}

He appeared as himself in the made-for-TV documentary on Michael Collins, The Shadow of Beal na blath (1991).^{[citation needed]}

Feehan died in Cork on 25 May 1991 of an apparent heart attack at the age of 74.^{[citation needed]}

Selected bibliography

• My Village - My World, foreword by John B. Keane. Mercier Press, c1992.
• An Apology to the Irish people Royal Carbery Books : Trade distributor, Mercier Press, c1988.
• The Secret Places of the Burren Royal Carbery Books, c1987.
• The Secret Places of the Shannon
• The Secret Places of Donegal
• The Statesman - a Study of the Role of Charles J Haughey in the Ireland of Tomorrow Mercier Press, c1985.
• Operation Brogue : A Study of the Vilification of Charles Haughey. Mercier Press, 1984. ISBN 0853427291.
• Bobby Sands and the Tragedy of Northern Ireland Mercier Press, c1983. ISBN 0932966659.
• The Shooting of Michael Collins: Murder or Accident Mercier Press, c1981. ISBN 0946645035.
• Fifty Years Young: A Tribute to John B. Keane Mercier Press, c1979.
• The Magic of the Kerry Coast Mercier Press, 1979. ISBN 0853425841.
• The Wind that Round the Fastnet Sweeps Mercier Press, 1978. Subsequently, under the title:
  The Secret Places of the West Cork Coast.
• Tomorrow To Be Brave Mercier Press, 1972. ISBN 0853423008.
  This is the story of a remarkable and wonderful woman, who knew she was going to die a lingering and painful death but who faced up to it with unbelievable courage and who turned her last terrible years on this earth into the greatest years of her life - years of kindness, patience, understanding and unselfishness.
• An Irish Publisher and His World Mercier Press, c1969.

Filmography

• The Shadow of Beal na blath (1991) (TV) (as Capt. John M. Feehan) .... Himself (author).

References

Notes

1. Boylan, Henry (1998). A Dictionary of Irish Biography, 3rd Edition. Dublin: Gill and MacMillan. p. 405. ISBN 0-7171-2945-4.
2. "Irish publisher whose printed pages keep turning in pace with history". Under the Radar. Dublin. The Irish Times. 26 February 2010.

Bibliography

• Brady, Anne M. and Brian Cleeve. A Biographical Dictionary of Irish Writers. The Lilliput Press, 1985, p. 77.
• Feehan, John M. My village--my world / John M. Feehan ; foreword by John B. Keane. Dublin : Mercier Press, c1992, p. 96.
• Who’ who, what’ what and where in Ireland / in association with The Irish Times. London, Dublin : Geoffrey Chapman, c1973, p. 110.

External links

• Bio on Mercier Press site