Maura Laverty

Maura Laverty (née Kelly; 1907 – 26 July 1966) was an Irish author, journalist and broadcaster known for her work on the Irish television drama serial, Tolka Row. She published several novels, short stories and critical pieces throughout her career.

Life

Maura Laverty was born Maura Kelly in Rathangan, County Kildare on 15 May 1907. She was educated at the Brigidine Convent in Carlow. She had intended to train to become a teacher, but she abandoned these plans after the death of her grandmother. She later moved to Spain in November 1924, 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, Radio Éireann.[1]

Upon her return to Ireland she married the journalist James Laverty in 1928. They had three children,[2] one of whom was her daughter, the artist Barry Castle, who illustrated some of her mother's work.

Her first novel Never No More was published to widespread acclaim in 1942. It was based in County Kildare, drawing heavily on personal experiences during her time in Derrymore House.[3] Laverty followed this with works such as Touched by the Thorn (1943) and Alone We Embark (1943). Two of her books were banned in Ireland, including her second, the semi-autobiographical No More than Human, which apparently offended the censor because of its frankness about the female body.[2] She was also the author of two classic cookbooks – Maura Laverty's Cookery Book (1946) (illustrated by her friend Louis le Brocquy) and Full and Plenty (1960). Both contain anecdotes and conversation about food, as well as practical recipes.

She is well known as the writer of Telefís Éireann's Tolka Row, the new television station's first drama serial that ran between 1964 and 1968, itself largely an adaptation of her play Liffey Lane. Laverty also wrote numerous children's stories including The Cottage in the Bog (1946) and The Green Orchard (1949).[2]

Her papers are deposited in the National Library of Ireland.

A biography,The Maura Laverty Story, by Seamus Kelly, was published in 2017.

A play based on her life,Maura Laverty–This Was Your Life, by Bairbre Ní Chaoimh and Yvonne Quinn premiered in Dublin in 2019.[4]

Novels
  • Never No More (1942)
  • Alone We Embark (1943), issued in America as Touched by the Thorn (1943)
  • No More than Human (1944)
  • Gold of Glanaree (1945)
  • The Cottage in the Bog (1946)
  • Lift Up Your Gates (1946)
  • The Green Orchard (1949)
  • The Queen of Aran’s Daughter Publisher: Poolbeg Press; New Ed edition (13 March 1997), ISBN 1853717118, ISBN 978-1853717116

Plays
  • A Tree in the Crescent
  • Liffey Lane
  • Tolka Row

Miscellaneous
  • Flour Economy (1941)
  • Kind Cooking (1946);
  • Maura Laverty’s Cookery Book (1948) A reprint of Kind Cooking, it was republished by Longman's UK.
  • Feasting Galore - Recipes and Food Lore from Ireland (1952) - published in the US
  • Full and Plenty (1960) - published by the Irish Flour Millers Association

Critical pieces

References
  1. Clarke, Frances (2009). "Laverty (Kelly), (Mary) Maura". Dictionary of Irish Biography - Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  2. Quinlan, Ailin (18 June 2011). "The Mammy of Irish cookery". Lifestyle. Dublin. Irish Independent. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  3. Maura Laverty at Ricorso.net
  4. "Maura Laverty-This Was Your Life, Viking Theatre, Clontarf, Portrait of the Doyenne of Irish TV Writing".
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