Frank Harris (1855-1931) was an Irish editor, novelist, short story writer, journalist and publisher, who was friendly with many well-known figures of his day. After graduating at the law school, he quickly abandoned his legal career and settled in London to pursue a career in literature. Harris wrote short stories and novels, two books on Shakespeare, a series of biographical sketches in five volumes under the title Contemporary Portraits and biographies of his friends Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw.