{{Infobox writer | name = Padraic Colum | image = PadraicColum.jpeg | caption = Photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1959. | birth_name = Patrick Columb | birth_date = | birth_place = Columcille, County Longford, Ireland | death_date = | death_place = Enfield, Connecticut, United States | nationality = Irish | alma_mater = University College Dublin | period = 1902–58 | notableworks = The Saxon Shillin, The King of Ireland's Son | spouse = Mary Maguire }}Padraic Colum (8 December 1881 – 11 January 1972) was an Irish poet, novelist, dramatist, biographer, playwright, children's author and collector of folklore. He was one of the leading figures of the Irish Literary Revival. Early life Colum was born Patrick Columb in a County Longford workhouse, where his father worked. He was the first of eight children born to Patrick and Susan Columb. When the father lost his job in 1889, he moved to the United States to participate in the Colorado gold rush. Padraic and his mother and siblings remained in Ireland, having moved to live with his grandmother in County Cavan. When the father returned in 1892, the family moved to Glasthule, near Dublin, where his father was employed as Assistant Manager at Sandycove and Glasthule railway station. His son attended the local national school. When Susan Columb died in 1897, the family was temporarily split up. Padraic (as he would be known) and one brother remained in Dublin, while their father and remaining children moved back to Longford. Colum finished school the following year and at the age of seventeen, he passed an exam for and was awarded a clerkship in the Irish Railway Clearing House. He stayed in this job until 1903. During this period, Colum started to write and met a number of the leading Irish writers of the time, including W. B. Yeats, Lady Gregory and Æ. He also joined the Gaelic League and was a member of the first board of the Abbey Theatre. He became a regular user of the National Library of Ireland, where he met James Joyce and the two became lifelong friends. During the riots caused by the Abbey Theatre's production of The Playboy of the Western World Colum's own father, Patrick Columb, was one of the protesters. Padraic himself was not engaged in the protests, although he did pay his father's fine afterwards. He was awarded a five-year scholarship by a wealthy