Mary Beckett

Mary Beckett
Born1926
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Died2013(2013-00-00) (aged 86–87)
Dublin, Ireland[1]
OccupationAuthor
NationalityIrish
Alma materSt. Mary's Teacher Training College[2]
Notable worksGive Them Stones
A Belfast Woman
A Literary Woman[2]
Notable awards1987 The Sunday Tribute Arts Award for Literature
Children5

Mary Beckett (1926–2013)[2] was an Irish author.

Biography

She was born in Belfast.[3] She attended St. Dominic's High School and then proceeded to St. Mary's Teacher Training College. She married and moved to Dublin where she worked as a teacher. She had five children.

Writing career

In the 1950s, she wrote radio plays for BBC Northern Ireland and had several short stories published.[4]

It was not until she was in her fifties that she began publish again. Her first was a collection of her earlier short stories entitled A Belfast Woman (1980).[5][6] This was followed by A Literary Woman (1990). She also wrote a novel entitled Give them Stones (1987), and several children's books including Orla was Six, Orla at School, A Family Tree, and Hannah, or the Pink Balloons.

References

  1. ^ Casey, Philip. "Beckett, Mary". Irish Writers Online. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  2. ^ a b c Ferguson, Amanda (12 November 2013). "Mary Beckett: Literary world mourning loss of top woman writer". Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  3. ^ Alexander G. Gonzalez, ed. (2006). Irish Women Writers: An A-to-Z Guide. Greenwood. pp. 14–17. ISBN 978-0313328831.
  4. ^ Matthews, Kelley (Summer 2014). "A Belfast Woman: Shame, Guilt, and Gender in Mary Beckett's Short Stories of the 1950s". New Hibernia Review. 18 (2). University of St. Thomas: 97–109. doi:10.1353/nhr.2014.0031. S2CID 143977948.
  5. ^ Pelan, Rebecca (2006). Two Irelands: Literary Feminisms North And South. Syracuse University Press. pp. 55–56. ISBN 978-0815630593.
  6. ^ Matthews, Kelly (2014). "A Belfast woman: Shame, guilt and gender in Mary Beckett's short stories of the 1950s". New Hibernia Review / Iris Éireannach Nua. 18 (2): 97–109. doi:10.1353/nhr.2014.0031. JSTOR 24625134. S2CID 143977948. Retrieved 9 August 2021.