Growing Up

J.P. Donleavy's parents, Patrick (fireman and poet) and Margaret both immigrated to the US from Ireland and settled in New York. JPD's sister, Rita (a prominent educator), is the eldest of three children. Brother, Thomas (T.J., a sculptor and painter), is the youngest.

Children of His Own

J.P. Donleavy has been married twice and divorced twice. He has two children by his first marriage to Valerie Heron - Philip and Karen and has two children by his second marriage to Mary Wilson-Price (now re-married to Finn Guinness) - Rebecca and Rory.

Philip (Donleavy) is part of Donleavy-Mitchell Productions (along with partner Bob Mitchell). Together they are currently involved in pre-production plans that include a feature film version of The Ginger Man.

Karen (Donleavy) is an accomplished ceramics artist and has done two joint art exhibitions with her father, one at Anna-Mei Chadwick Gallery London, March 5-16. 1991, the other at the National Arts Club, New York May 10 - 23, 2007. Visit Karen's site for more background.

Rebecca is the former fashion editor for Absolute magazine and is now freelancing at W.

Rory is the front man for the band iLash. The group's site is coming soon and will be linked here. Their MySpace page offers information on gigs and a cool blog. The band has a recording available at musicshere.com.