Mary O'Donnell
| Mary O'Donnell | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1954 Monaghan, Ireland |
| Pen name | Mary O'Donnell |
| Occupation | Poet, Writer |
| Nationality | Irish |
Mary O'Donnell (born 1954) is an award-winning and best-selling novelist and poet, a journalist, broadcaster and teacher.
Biography
O'Donnell was born in County Monaghan to a Catholic middle-class family close to the border with Northern Ireland. Her father was the manager of Monaghan Co-Op and her mother was a nurse. She was educated at St. Louis Convent Monaghan and went to college to St. Patrick's College in Maynooth. There she gained a degree in German and philosophy and an MA in German studies, followed by a Higher Diploma in education, which she used to become a language and drama teacher. She married her husband Martin when she was 23. They had one daughter. They live in Kildare.[1][2]
O'Donnell left teaching to work as a journalist on the Sunday Tribune. It was then that she started writing more. O'Donnell became a regular on The Irish Times, The Irish Independent and on RTÉ as well as to various literary journals. Her first novel, The Light-Makers, was a best-seller and won the Sunday Tribune’s Best New Irish Novel for 1992.[2][3]
She has written novels, compilations of poetry, short stories and radio broadcasts and won awards for her writing. In 2007 she was writer-in-residence at the Princess Grace Irish Library in Monaco. Her work has been translated into Hungarian.
O'Donnell teaches creative writing at Maynooth, she is a mentor on the Carlow College, Pittsburgh MFA in Creative Writing programme and on the faculty for the University of Iowa's summer writing programme at Trinity College, Dublin. She is a member of the Irish Writers' Union, is a member of Aosdána and served for three years on the NUI, Maynooth Governing Authority for arts and culture.[3][4]
O'Donnell has been a judge for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Hennessy Literary Award, the Strokestown International Poetry Competition, Poetry Now and the Irish Times/Mountains to Sea Poetry Prize.[3][5]
Awards
- Sunday Tribune Best New Irish Novel in 1992,
- The William Allingham Award.
- The Listowel Writers’ Week Short Story Prize.
- Prize-winner in the V.S. Pritchett Short Story Competition (UK).
- The Hennessy Award.
- Co-winner of the Irodälmi Jelen translation prize.
- President's Alumni Award at NUI Maynooth 2011.
- Irish Times Literature Awards - nominated twice.
Bibliography
Novels
- The Light-Makers (Poolbeg, 1992 & 1993)
- Virgin and the Boy (Poolbeg, 1996)
- The Elysium Testament (Trident Press UK, 1999)
- Where They Lie (New Island Books, 2014)
- Sister Caravaggio, collaborative novel with Peter Cunningham, Neil Donnelly and others (Liberties Press, 2014)
Short Story collections
- Strong Pagans (Poolbeg, 1991)
- Storm Over Belfast (New Island Books, 2008)
Poetry
- Reading the Sunflowers in September (Salmon, 1990)
- Spiderwoman’s Third Avenue Rhapsody (Salmon 1993)
- Unlegendary Heroes (Salmon 1998)
- September Elegies (Lapwing, Belfast, 2003)
- The Place of Miracles, New & Selected Poems (New Island Books, 2005)
- Csodák földje, Hungarian edition of New & Selected Poems (Irodalmi Jelen Konyvek, translator Dr. Tamas Kabdebo, 2011)
- Those April Fevers, (Arc Publications UK, 2015)
Translations
- To the Winds Our Sails, editor with Manuela Palacios, (Salmon, 2010)
Further reading
- Irish Women Writers: An A-to-Z Guide, Alexander G. Gonzalez, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006, 348 pages
- Irish Women Writers Speak Out: Voices from the Field, Caitriona Moloney, Helen Thompson, Syracuse University Press, 2003, 286 pages
- Salmon: A Journey in Poetry, 1981-2007, edited by Jessie Lendennie. Salmon Publishing, 2007
- An introduction to Mary O'Donnell
References
- ↑ "Interview Of Mary O'Donnell By Audrey Watson, Monday 26 May 2014". From The Belfast Telegraph.
- 1 2 "Irish Times praises Mary O'Donnell".
- 1 2 3 "Mary O'Donnell Online Biography".
- ↑ "Aosdána Biography".
- ↑ "Writers' Directory".