MacKenna, Stephen (1872–1934)

English-born translator and journalist, celebrated in the world of classical studies for his unparalleled translation of Plotinus' Enneads (1917–1930). MacKenna was born in Liverpool of Irish parents, and first moved to Dublin after failing an entrance exam to London University. He served as a European news correspondent during the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05), and interviewed the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy before returning to Ireland in 1907. He was a close friend of the dramatist J M Synge as well as the poets George Russell and James Stephens, and other leading figures of the Gaelic revival. After the Irish Civil War (1922–23), he moved to London where he worked continually on the Plotinus project.