William Trevor Cox was born in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork, in 1928. In 1946 he went to Trinity College, Dublin, where he obtained a B.A. in History. His first novel, A Standard of Behaviour, was published in 1958; The Old Boys was published six years later and received widespread critical acclaim. The Hawthornden Prize for fiction was one of Trevor's initial literary awards. Since then Trevor has received numberous awards for his prolific output consisting of novels, short stories, stage plays, radio and television plays.