Malachy McCourt was the author of A Monk Swimming. Born in 1931 in Brooklyn, New York, he was raised in Limerick, Ireland. He returned to New York in 1952 at the age of twenty, which is where his memoir begins. A quintessential Upper West Sider, organizer, and stalwart of Bloomsday at Symphony Space, McCourt was awarded the Irish American Writers and Artists (IAMWA) Eugene O'Neill Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. The Irish Echo designated him "The Great Sennachie." He was the first to admit he could not have accomplished any of this but for the love and support of his wife, Diana, who he was outrageously lucky to find and charm, and keep amused for more than fifty years.