George Moore was an Irish novelist, short-story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist and dramatist. He was born in 1852 in County Mayo, Ireland. He studied art in Paris in the 1870s and became friends with many of the leading French artists and writers of the day. He returned to Ireland in 1901 and became involved in the Irish literary revival. He wrote over 20 novels, including *The Untilled Field* (1903) and *Hail and Farewell* (1911-1914). He died in 1933 in London.
Moore was a controversial figure in his lifetime, but he is now considered one of the most important Irish writers of the 19th and 20th centuries. His work is characterized by its realism, its sensuality, and its wit.