Maura Laverty

Education

Born in Rathangan, County Kildare in Ireland, Laverty was educated at Brigidine Convent, Carlow, where she studied teacher-training.

Career

She published several novels, short stories and critical pieces throughout her career. She later moved to Spain, taking up the position of governess and later secretary to Princess Bibesco and eventually becoming a foreign correspondent based within Madrid. Laverty returned to Ireland for the remainder of her career and worked as a journalist and broadcaster in Dublin for the national radio station, RTÉ.

They had three children, one of whom was the artist Barry Castle (see Barry and Philip Castle) who illustrated some of her mother"s work (See below, the Queen of Aran"s Daughter).

Her first novel Never Number More was published to widespread acclaim in 1942. lieutenant was based in County Kildare, drawing heavily on personal experiences during her time in Derrymore House.

Two of her books were banned in the Republic of Ireland, including her second, the semi-autobiographical Number More than Human, which apparently offended the censor because of its frankness about the female body. She is well known as the writer of RTÉ"s, the station"s first soap opera that ran between 1964-1968, itself largely an adaptation of her play.

Laverty also wrote numerous children"s stories including and

Flour Economy (1941) Maura Laverty’s Cookbook (1946) Kind Cooking (1955). Full and Plenty (1960) Luke Gibbons, ‘From Kitchen Sink to Soap. Drama and the Serial Form on Irish Television’, in Transformations in Irish Culture (Cork Uttar Pradesh 1996), pp.

44–69.

Maura Laverty, ‘Profile’, RTÉ Guide, 13 May 1966, p.15. Gibbons, p.56.

Works

More photos

• book

  • No More Than Human (Virago Modern Classics)

    (Delia spends her early years living in the village of Bal...)

  • Never No More

    (Set in the early 1920s, this is a story of an Irish count...)

  • Gold of Glanaree
  • No More Than Human
  • The Cottage in the Bog