Brian Friel (born January 9, 1929) is an Irish playwright. He lived in Derry, Northern Ireland until moving to County Donegal in 1967--first to Muff, then to Greencastle. He has written a number of plays, and also translated many plays from a number of other languages.

His first plays, which have never been printed, were written and produced in the late 1950s and early 1960s; his first sanctioned play was staged in 1962, The Enemy Within, and Philadelphia, Here I Come! (1964) made him famous not only in Ireland, but the USA as well. He used the theme of translation in one of his most famous works, Translations (1980). One of his other famous plays is Dancing at Lughnasa (1990).

He also formed the Field Day Theatre with Stephen Rea, Tom Paulin, Seamus Heaney and Seamus Deane .

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Aosdána biographical note