James Stephens

James Stephens (1880–1950) rose from a hard Dublin childhood to become a central figure of the Irish Literary Revival, encouraged by the poet Æ. His novel The Crock of Gold (1912), a philosophical, mischievous fantasy of leprechauns, gods and Irish myth, remains a beloved classic, and he wrote fine retellings of Irish wonder-tales (Irish Fairy Tales) and further fantastic novels like The Demi-Gods. A distinctive, lyrical voice of modern fantasy.