Paul Glynn


Paul Glynn is a Marist missionary priest and writer from Australia. He is the author of several books, including The Song of Nagasaki and The Smile of the Ragpicker, both best-sellers and translated into several languages. He has devoted a lifetime to reconciliation and friendship between Australia and Japan, the two former wartime enemies.

Biography

Paul Glynn is an Australian Marist missionary priest and writer. He graduated from Southern Cross University; in 2010 the school awarded him an honorary doctorate for his reconciliation work with Japan. He lived in Japan for over 20 years, learning the country's language and culture through Buddhist texts. There he wrote A Song for Nagasaki, a book recounting the life of Takashi Nagai, a radiologist who converted to Catholicism and survived the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaski. Paul Glynn is also the author of The Smile of a Ragpicker and Like a Samurai – the Tony Glynn Story.
Paul Glynn has been a Catholic priest since 1953. He has devoted a lifetime to reconciliation and friendship between Australia and Japan, the two former wartime foes. He was inspired to follow Padre Lionel Marsden, a former prisoner-of-war of the Japanese on the Burma Railway, to work for reconciliation with the people of Japan. He subsequently helped his brother Tony, who was also a promoter of reconciliation with Japan. He is a recipient of the Order of the Rising Sun from the Japanese government and the Medal of the Order of Australia from the Australian government for reconciliation work between Japan and Australia. He initiated Australia's first Sister City relationship with a Japanese city – between Yamato Takada in Nara Prefecture and Lismore in northern New South Wales – half a century ago.

Publications