The Street

John B. Keane, playwright, poet and fiction writer, was born in Listowel, County Kerry, in 1928 and died in his home town on 30 May 2002. His first play, Sive, a rural tragedy of love and greed, was rejected by the Abbey Theatre but made a sensational impact on its first - amateur - production and has come to be seen as a classic work. Among his other notable plays are Sharon's Grave (1960), Big Maggie (1969) and The Field (1965), which was successfully filmed. The death of John B. Keane, after a long battle with cancer, was mourned by the Irish nation. He was a Listowel man, a Kerryman and an Irishman; his appeal - whether as a raconteur, playwright or novelist - was universal.