Walter Macken， the famous novelist was born in Galway in 1915. He first began to write at the age of eight. He joined the Taibhdhearc in 1934， while still attending school. It was there he met his wife， Peggy Kenny， who was then a news editor. She was six years older than he was.
They fell in love， but her father， Tom Cork Kenny didn’t approve of Peggy’s choice， so they had to elope① and were married in Fairview Church in Dublin on February 9th 1937. They went to London where he worked as an insurance agent②， selling insurance door to door， as he later wrote about in I Am Alone.
Returning to Galway in 1939， Walter took up the post of theatre manager with the Taibhdhearc. At this time， he began to write both in Irish and English. By 1946 his first play in English，Mungo’s Mansion， had been successfully staged at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin， and his first novel， Quench the Moon， had been accepted for publication.
In 1948 Walter Macken joined the Abbey for three years. A year later his second novel， I Am Alone， was published， and in 1950 his third novel， Rain on the Wind， brought him international recognition③， winning the Book of the Month Club and the Literary Guild award. A successful US theatre tour gave him the impetus④to return home to Galway to establish a career for himself as a full-time writer.
In 1957 he embarked⑤ on his most ambitious writing project： the three historical novels， Seek the Fair Land， The Silent People and The Scorching Wind， and in 1964 his first children’s novel， Island of the Great Yellow Ox， proved to be one of his most popular books.
In all， Walter Macken produced a body of work which finally came to ten novels， seven plays， three books of short stories and two children’s books； most of his novels have been translated into many languages.
His last novel， Brown Lord of the Mountain， was published just before his death on 22 April 1967. Brandon published two posthumous⑥ collections of his short stories in the 1990s.
① elopev. 私奔，逃走，潜逃
② agentn. 代理人，代理商，中介人
③ recognitionn. 认出，识别，认识
④ impetusn. 推动，促进，冲力
⑤ embarkv. 从事，着手
⑥ posthumousadj. 死后的，死后出版的
瓦尔特·马肯
瓦尔特·马肯，是世界著名的作家，他于1915年在戈尔韦出生。在8岁的时候他就开始写作了。1934年，当他还是一名学生之时，就参加了泰弗雅克剧院的演出，也就是在那儿，他遇到了他的终生伴侣佩姬·肯尼，那时她是一名新闻编辑，比他年长6岁。
两人很快就深陷爱河，然而佩姬的父亲汤姆·库克·肯尼却不赞成佩姬·肯尼的选择，因此两人只好选择私奔，并于1937年2月9日在都柏林的费尔夫教堂举行婚礼。接着瓦尔特·马肯夫妇前往伦敦，在那里，瓦尔特做了保险推销员，挨家挨户销售保险。后来他把这段经历写入了小说《我孤身一人》。
1939年回到戈尔威后，瓦尔特担任泰弗雅克剧院经理。在这段时期，他开始用爱尔兰语和英语创作。到1946年，他的第一部英语戏剧《芒戈的大宅》早已在都柏林的阿贝剧院成功上演，而他的第一部小说《熄灭月亮》也已获得出版。
1948年，瓦尔特·马肯加盟阿贝剧院，并在那儿工作了3年。1年以后，他出版了第二部小说《我孤身一人》，1950年，他的第三部小说《风中雨》让他名扬世界，并且获得了月份俱乐部最佳图书及文学学会奖。一场成功的美国戏剧巡演促使他决定回到戈尔韦，将全职作家作为他终生奋斗的事业。
1957年瓦尔特·马肯开始了雄心勃勃的创作计划，即三部历史宏篇巨著：《寻找正义之地》、《沉默的人们》和《炙热的风》，而在1964年他的第一部儿童小说《大黄牛岛》被认为是他最成功的作品之一。
总之，瓦尔特·马肯一生创作了大量作品，其中包括十部小说，七部戏剧，三部短篇故事集和两本儿童读物，他的大部分小说已被翻译为多国文字。
《大山里的布朗老爷》恰于他1967年4月22日去世前发表。20世纪90年代，他的短篇故事由布兰登出版社集结出版。
