Mulkerns was born in Dublin in 1925 to James Mulkerns and Esther O"Neill. She was educated at the Dominican school at Eccles Street, and grew up in an artistic family, her father being a Dublin strolling player and writer of satirical verse.
Her first novel, A Time Outworn, was released to critical acclaim in Ireland in 1952. She later worked as a journalist and columnist and was often heard on the radio. After a stint in the Irish Civil Service, she moved to England, where she worked as a teacher.
During the fifties, after moving back to Ireland, she began to write, and worked as an associate editor and theatre critic of The Bell, a famed Irish literary review founded by Seán Ó Faoláin.
Val Mulkerns is a member of Aosdána, the affiliation of Creative Artists in Ireland.
