Lynd, Robert (1879–1949)

Northern Irish essayist and critic. His intimate, witty essays covered a wide range of topics, and were collected in several volumes, including The Art of Letters 1920, The Blue Lion 1923, and In Defence of Pink 1939.

Lynd was born in Belfast and studied there at Queen's University, before moving to London in 1901. From 1912 onwards, he was literary editor of the Daily News (later the News Chronicle). He was also a long-standing contributor to the New Statesman (1913–45), writing under the pseudonym ‘Y Y’.