Walter Macken， the famous novelist， playwright and actor， 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 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 elope and were married in Fairview Church in Dublin on February 9th 1937. They went to London where he worked as an insurance agent， 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 he 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 recognition， winning the Book of the Month Club and the Literary Guild award. A successful US theatre tour gave him the impetus to return home to Galway to establish a career for himself as a full-time writer.
In 1957 he embarked 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， he 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 posthumous collections of his short stories in the 1990s.
瓦尔特·马可肯（1915-1967）生平简介及作品
瓦尔特·马可肯，著名的小说家，剧作家及演员。1915年出生于戈尔威①。八岁起开始写作。1934年当他还是学生的时候，他就参加泰弗雅克剧院②的演出，也就是在那儿，他遇到了他的终生伴侣比他年长6岁的佩姬·肯尼，一名新闻编辑，两人深陷爱河。但是他们的爱情遭到佩姬的父亲汤姆·库克·肯尼的反对，两人不得不私奔，并于1937年2月9日在都柏林的费尔夫教堂举行婚礼。接着马克肯夫妇前往伦敦。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，并开始用爱尔兰语和英语创作。1946年之前，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，他的第一部小说《熄灭月亮》也已获得出版。
1948年，马克肯加盟阿贝剧院，并在那儿工作了三年。1949年，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威以全职作家作为他奋斗的事业。
1957年马克肯开始了雄心勃勃的创作计划：三部历史宏篇巨著——《寻找正义之地》、《沉默的人们》和《炙热的风》。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，马克肯一生创作了大量作品：十部小说，七部戏剧，三部短篇故事集及两本儿童读物，他的大部分小说已被翻译为多国文字。1967年4月22日，马克肯去世，之前他发表了最后一部小说《大山里的布朗老爷》。上世纪九十年代，他的短篇故事由布兰登出版社集结出版。
注释：
①戈尔威：爱尔兰中西部一郡
②泰弗雅克剧院：The Taidhbhearc（爱尔兰语发音为Tive-yark）于1928年建于戈尔威，是爱尔兰国内第一所使用爱尔兰语演出的剧院，爱尔兰许多著名的作家如马克肯及奥卡斯塔·格里格力女士（Lady Augusta Gregory）的作品曾在此上演
