Mary Josephine Lavin (10 June 1912 – 25 March 1996) was an American-born Irish author of short stories and novels, now regarded as a

pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a person who is among the first at something that is new to a community. A pioneer as a settler is among the first settling at a place that is new to the settler community. A historic example are American pioneers, perso ...

in the field of women's writing. The well-known Anglo-Irish writer

Lord Dunsany Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany (; 24 July 1878 – 25 October 1957), commonly known as Lord Dunsany, was an Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist. He published more than 90 books during his lifetime, and his output consist ...

mentored Lavin after her father approached him on her behalf to discuss with him some stories she had written. Her subject matter often dealt explicitly with concerns of women, as well as a deep

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

faith (she attended a convent school in Dublin). She is particularly noteworthy for her stories on the topic of

widow A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has Death, died and has usually not remarried. The male form, "widower", is first attested in the 14th century, by the 19th century supplanting "widow" with reference to men. The adjecti ...

hood, which are acknowledged to be among her finest. Her husband died in 1954, a little over a decade into his marriage. She remarried in 1969. Her second husband, who before his marriage to Lavin had been living abroad, died in 1991 and she was once again a widow, remaining so until her death five years later.

Early life and career

Mary Lavin was born in East Walpole,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, in 1912, the only child of Tom and Nora Lavin, an immigrant Irish couple. She attended primary school in East Walpole until the age of nine when her mother decided to go back to Ireland. Initially, Mary and Nora lived with Nora's family (the Mahons) in

Athenry Athenry (; ) is a town in County Galway, Ireland, which lies east of Galway city. Some of the attractions of the medieval town are its town wall, Athenry Castle, its priory and its 13th-century street-plan. The town is also well known by virt ...

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

. Afterwards, they bought a house in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, and Mary's father, too, came back from America to join them. Mary attended Loreto College, a convent school in Dublin, before going on to study English and French at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

(UCD). She taught French at Loreto College for a while. As a postgraduate student, she published her first short story, "Miss Holland", which appeared in the '' Dublin Magazine'' in 1938. Tom Lavin then approached

, the well-known Irish writer, on behalf of his daughter and asked him to read some of Mary's unpublished work. Suitably impressed, Lord Dunsany became Mary's literary mentor. In 1943, Mary published her first book; '' Tales from Bective Bridge'', a volume of ten short stories about life in rural Ireland, was a critical success and won the

James Tait Black Memorial Prize The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Un ...

for fiction. That same year, Lavin married William Walsh, a Dublin lawyer. Over the next decade, the couple had three daughters and moved to "abbey farm" which they purchased in

County Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

, and which included the land around Bective Abbey. Lavin's literary career flourished; she published several novels and collections of short stories during this period. Her first novel ''The House in Clewe Street'' was serialised in ''

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'' monthly magazine before its publication in book form in 1945.

Widowhood and later career

In 1954, William Walsh died. Lavin, her reputation as a major writer already well established, was left to confront her responsibilities alone. She raised her three daughters and kept the family farm going at the same time. She also managed to keep her literary career on track, continuing to publish short stories and winning several awards for her work, including the Katherine Mansfield Prize in 1961, Guggenheim Fellowships in 1959 and 1961, and an honorary doctorate from UCD in 1968. Some of her stories written during this period, dealing with the topic of widowhood, are acknowledged to be among her finest. Lavin remarried in 1969. Michael Scott was an old friend from Mary's student days in University College. He had been a

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priest in Australia but had obtained release from his vows from Rome and returned to Ireland. The two remained together until Scott's death in 1991. In 1992, the members of

Aosdána Aosdána ( , ; from , 'people of the arts') is an Irish association or academy of artists, each of whom must have produced a distinguished body of work of genuine originality. It was created in 1981 by the country's Arts Council on the initiati ...

elected Lavin - now retired - Saoi for achieving "singular and sustained distinction" in literature. Aosdána is an affiliation of creative artists in Ireland, and the title of Saoi is one of the highest honours in Irish culture. Lavin's granddaughter is the novelist Kathleen MacMahon. In March 2021 a public square, leading from Lad Lane, where she lived for many years, to Wilton Park, near the Grand Canal, was named Mary Lavin Place. It was the first time an Irish woman writer was so honoured. The square will open in October 2024.

Bibliography

*'' Tales from Bective Bridge'', Little, Brown, 1942; *''The Long Ago'', Michael Joseph, 1944 *''The House in Clewe Street'', Little, Brown, 1945; Faber & Faber, Limited, 2009, (novel) *''The Becker Wives'', Michael Joseph, 1946 *''At Sallygap'', Little, Brown, 1947 *''Mary O'Grady'', Little, Brown, 1950 (novel) *''A Single Lady'', Michael Joseph, 1951 *''The Patriot Son'', M. Joseph, 1956 *''A Likely Story'', Macmillan, 1957; Literary Licensing, LLC, 2012, *''Selected Stories'', Macmillan, 1959 *''The Great Wave'', Macmillan, 1961 *''The Stories of Mary Lavin'' (Volume 1) *''In the Middle of the Fields'', Constable, 1967; Macmillan, 1969 *''Happiness'', Constable, 1969, New Island Books, 2012, *''The Second Best Children in the World'', Houghton Mifflin, 1972, illustrated by

Edward Ardizzone Edward Jeffrey Irving Ardizzone, (16 October 1900 – 8 November 1979), who sometimes signed his work "DIZ", was a British painter, printmaker and war artist, and the author and illustrator of books, many of them for children. For ''Tim All Al ...

* * *''The Stories of Mary Lavin'' (Volume 2) *''The Shrine and other stories'', Houghton Mifflin, 1977, * *''A Cup of Tea'' s listed opposite title page of 'A Family Likeness and other stories', Constable London, 1985, /ref> *

Notes

Sources

*Bowen, Zack R. ''Mary Lavin,'' Bucknell University Press, 1975, *Peterson, Richard F.. ''Mary Lavin'', Twayne Publishers, 1978, *; Wolfhound Press, 1997,

External links

Mary Lavin
at the