Irish writer (1814-1873). Full name: Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu. Sometimes referred to as: J. Sheridan LeFanu.
Born in Dublin, his father was a Protestant clergyman, and his family struggled with poverty for most of his youth. When he was young, he had a tutor who was basically unable to teach the family's kids anything at all. Le Fanu got most of his education from his father's personal library. He was writing poems at age 15 -- he shared them with his mother and siblings, but not with his father, who was very stern and not inclined to appreciate poetry. By the time his father died, there was no money left to inherit, and the family had to sell his library to pay his debts.
Le Fanu studied law at Trinity College in Dublin, but decided to become a writer instead. He worked for newspapers and even owned several, including the Dublin Evening Mail. He also wrote fiction for the Dublin University Magazine, including his first ghost story, "The Ghost and the Bone-Setter."
He married Susanna Bennett in 1844, and they had four kids -- but the marriage was plagued by Susanna's emotional difficulties. She had what seem to be several neuroses, had a crisis of faith, and suffered anxiety after the deaths of several relatives. She died suddenly in 1858 after going through what was described as a "hysterical attack," and Le Fanu was so broken up by her death that he didn't write any fiction until after his mother died in 1861.
When he became the editor of the Dublin University Magazine, Le Fanu began serializing his fiction in the magazine, then revising it to publish it in England. For a time, he had a contract with a London publisher that required his stories to be tailored for English audiences, but he eventually returned to writing short stories about Ireland.
Le Fanu died of a heart attack in Dublin in 1873, at the age of only 58.
LeFanu is still best known as a writer of mystery and supernatural fiction. He wrote 14 novels, including "The House by the Churchyard," "Uncle Silas," and "The Rose and the Key," but his most famous work is a short story about a lesbian vampire called "Carmilla." His work is credited with moving horror fiction away from the gothic elements common in the 19th century and towards a more personal emphasis on psychological horror.