The death has been announced of John O'Brien, founder of Dalkey Archive Press, who published authors including Flann O'Brien, Anne Carson, Gertrude Stein and Carlos Fuentes.
Dalkey Archive Press, named after the Flann O'Brien novel was founded with the intention of recovering works that had fallen out of print and making them available forever. It also published the Review of Contemporary Fiction, and Context magazine. The current offices of the publisher are in Illinois, Dublin and London.
With a heavy heart, we announce the passing of our founder, John O'Brien. His contributions to international literature are monumental, and he will be greatly missed by many. https://t.co/1PgoCmWHLU
— Dalkey Archive (@Dalkey_Archive) November 24, 2020
Dalkey Archive Press published 1000 works of fiction, poetry, literary non-fiction and scholarly works, and its authors included Gilbert Sorrentino, Flann O'Brien, Svetlana Alexievich, Arno Schmidt, Ishmael Reed, David Markson, Anne Carson, Nicholas Mosley, Stanley Elkin, Carlos Fuentes, Danilo Kiš, Carole Maso, Gerald Murnane, Jon Fosse, Gertude Stein, Édouard Levé, Marguerite Young, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, and many more.
RIP John O'Brien founder of @Dalkey_Archive, my quixotic publisher, a monumental publisher ... My most heartfelt condolences ... He worked too hard ... He was, at all times, truly wonderful to me as a person & publisher ... He published so many fascinating voices: pic.twitter.com/83VVYNXLlD
— #SusanaMedina (@SusanaMedina_) November 24, 2020
O'Brien himself was awarded the Sandrof lifetime achievement award from the National Book Critics' Circle in 2011, and in 2015 was appointed Chevalier in the Ordre des Arts & des Lettres in recognition of his significant contribution to French arts and literature by the Minister of Culture and Communication of France.
If you want a taste of his stories & legendary opinionated commentary, and also learn a bit about @Dalkey_Archive's beginnings & reason for existing, check out this interview with him from just last month as part of their recently launched podcast series:https://t.co/XBCp8ibRBy
— Stacie Michelle (@staciemichelle) November 24, 2020
Before his death, the Dalkey Archive board agreed to merge with Deep Vellum Publishing so its backlist will be kept in print.
John O'Brien, who was Irish American died on November 21st at the age of 75.
