Liam Ó Muirthile was born in 1950 in Cork where he studied at University College. His first collection of poems, Tine Cnámh, was published in 1984; a selection of his weekly Irish Times columns, An Peann Coitianta, in 1991.

In 1983 he won Duais an Ríordánaigh and in 1984 the Irish American Cultural Institute Award.

He has worked as a journalist in RTE, but is now a freelance writer and broadcaster. He lives with his family in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin.