Sam Hanna Bell

Who was Sam Hanna Bell?

Sam Hanna Bell was a novelist, short story writer, playwright, and broadcaster who lived in Northern Ireland.

He was born in Glasgow to Ulster Scots parents. Following the death of his father he was brought at the age of seven to be reared in the Strangford Lough area of County Down, where his acclaimed novel of Ulster rural life, December Bride, would be set. He moved to Belfast in 1921, where he worked at a variety of manual jobs before securing a post with the BBC in 1945. He was a co-founder of the left-leaning literary journal Lagan in 1943.

His first collection of short stories, Summer Loanen, was published in 1943. His novels include December Bride, The Hollow Ball, A Man Flourishing and Across the Narrow Sea.

In 1977 he was honoured with an MBE in recognition of his contribution to the cultural life of Northern Ireland.

December Bride was made into an acclaimed film in 1990. Reviewing the film, Irish Times columnist and literary critic Fintan O'Toole said it was "not just a remarkable artistic achievement, but also a remarkable political one...restoring a richness and complexity to a history that has been deliberately narrowed".