Richard O'Rawe
| Date of Birth: | 21 December 1953 |
| Address: | Belfast |
Richard O' Rawe is the author of the best-selling books Blanketmen: An Untold Story of the H-Block Hunger Strike; Afterlives: The Hunger Strike and the Secret Offer that Changed Irish History; and In the Name of the Son: The Gerry Conlon Story and the novel Northern Heist. Richard O'Rawe was born in 1953 and spent the first fourteen years of his life in the Lower Falls district of Belfast. His home was at the corner of Peel Street and Mary Street. Nearby lived Gerry Conlon. In 1970, his home in Peel Street was demolished as part of the redevelopment of the area and he and his family moved to Ballymurphy, a new housing estate. At this time, The Troubles was developing. In 1971, the Ballymurphy massacre occurred in which eleven civilians were killed by the British Army. The following year, at a nearby location, what became known as the Battle at Springmartin occured. As a result of the heightened conflict in the area, O'Rawe got involved in Irish republican politics. He was later arrested and imprisoned in Crumlin Road Jail and then in Long Kesh prison. On his release from prison in 1982, O'Rawe worked for the Irish Republican Movement for a further fifteen years doing publicity work. He then left the movement and became involved in a range of community activities and began to write about his prison activities. He widened his range to include work on Gerry Conlon and Freddie Scappaticci. He also began to write more imaginative fiction. Source: Wikipedia.org
