John B. Keane was born in Listowel in 1928. Having worked in a variety of jobs in Ireland and England, he married and settled down to run a pub in his native town. Now he is recognised as a major Irish writer, who has written many successful plays and books including; Sive, Sharon's Grave, The Field, The Man from Clare, Big Maggie, The Year of the Hiker, Many Young Men of Twenty, Moll, The Change in Mame Fadden, Values, The Crazy Wall, The Buds of Ballybunion, Letters of an Irish Minister of State, Letters of a Successful T.D., Letters of an Irish Parish Priest, Letters of a Love-Hungry Farmer, Letters of a Matchmaker, Letters of a Civic Guard, Letters of a Country Postman, Is the Holy Ghost Really a Kerryman? and other items of interest, Death Be Not Proud, The Gentle Art of Matchmaking and other important things, Strong Tea. Self-Portrait is his own story. First published in hardcover, the paperback edition will please John B. Keane's many admirers. It has all the humour and insight one would expect, but it has, too, the feeling of an Irish countryman for his traditional way of life, and his ideals for the Ireland he loves.