Background

Marie Heaney was born on September 14, 1940 in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. She and her family moved to Dublin in 1972 where she still lives.

Career

Marie began her teaching career in schools in Northern Ireland. As well as Over Nine Waves she has also written The Names Upon the Harp, a book of Irish legends for children and as an editor with Townhouse Publishing in Dublin has produced several anthologies, including Heart Mysteries, a personal selection of Irish poetry. Marie Heaney has also contributed to newspapers and journals and has written for radio and television.

Achievements

• Among her books and anthologies is the most successful and famous book of Irish legends Over Nine Waves, published by Faber and still in print many years later.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Over Nine Waves: A Book of Irish Legends

    (Journalist Marie Heaney skillfully revives the glory of a...)

    1995
  • The Names Upon The Harp: Irish Myths And Legends 2000
  • All Through the Night: Night Poems and Lullabies 2016
  • The Names upon the Harp 2000
  • Sources: Letters from the Irish People on Sustenance for the Soul 2000
  • A Treasury of Sunday Miscellany 2009

Views

Quotations: I am a private person and have tried to remain so.

Women are not allowed to play second fiddle, and I never felt I did.

I essentially believe that the family is by far the most important thing you have, so I had no difficulty at all giving time to that. I would rather give time to my family than give it to some multinational.

Connections

On August 5, 1965 Marie married a poet Seamus Heaney, and they have three children: Michael, Christopher and Catherine. They had been a couple for more than 50 years. They met the day they graduated from teacher-training college, in 1962, when he came over to speak to her.

Father:

Thomas F. Devlin

Mother:

Eileen (O’Hare) Devlin

husband:

Seamus Heaney

Son:

Michael

Son:

Christopher

Daughter:

Catherine