Dorothy Molloy (10 June 1942 – 4 January 2004) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

poet, journalist and artist.

Early life

Dorothy Mary Molloy was born in

Ballina, County Mayo Ballina ( ; ) is a town in north County Mayo, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It lies at the mouth of the River Moy near Killala Bay, in the Moy valley and Parish of Kilmoremoy, with the Ox Mountains to the east and the Nephin Beg Range, Nephin ...

to Patrick Molloy and Kathleen (Doris) Murphy. Her father was a builder and moved the family of three sons and two daughters to

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

in about 1948. As a result, Molloy was educated in the Loreto Abbey, Dalkey. She went on to

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

, UCD, where she studied languages - specifically French and Spanish. Molloy worked in both countries as an exchange student and au pair. On graduating, Molloy moved to Barcelona where she worked on a project which was to document the history of the Irish on the European continent.

Career

For the UCD Overseas Project Molloy spent considerable time working in the Spanish archives and wrote her work in articles for '' Éire-Ireland'' in 1971. She went on to work for the Spanish magazine ''

Destino ''Destino'' is an animated short film released in 2003 by Walt Disney Animation Studios. ''Destino'' is unique in that its production originally began in 1945, 58 years before its eventual completion in 2003. The project was originally a collab ...

'', the London-based ''

Art and Artists Hansom Books was a British publisher founded in 1950 by Philip Dosse to produce the magazine ''Dance and Dancers''. Magazines in a similar format were then founded to cover other arts, so forming the Seven Arts Group. The other titles were '' Ar ...

'' and for the ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines. Traditionally a broadsheet new ...

''. Molloy also worked as a curator for an art gallery in Spain. She helped organise a solo show for Julia Mateu in Dublin in 1967. During this time she was also painting. In 1970 Molloy won the first prize in the XI Salon Femenino de Arte Actual in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. She followed this with solo exhibitions in Barcelona in 1971 and 1973. In 1979 Molloy returned to Dublin and had solo exhibitions in

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

in 1984 and Dublin 1991. Her work was selling well. Molloy took the time to return to college and graduated in 1984 with an M. Phil in medieval studies from UCD and a diploma in psychology. She gained a Ph.D in 1997. From 1997 to 2003 Molloy directed workshops in UCD and began to submit her poetry for publication. Her first volume of poems, ''Hare soup'' was published in 2004 by

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...

. The book was critically acclaimed and won the

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

Poetry Now Award The Poetry Now Award is an annual literary prize presented for the best single volume of poetry by an Irish poet. The €5,000 award was first given in 2005 (reduced to €2,500 in 2013) and is presented during annual Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown ...

in 2005. However Molloy had been diagnosed with liver cancer in November 2003 and died in Dublin on 4 January 2004. ''Gethsemane Day'' was published in 2006, ''Long-Distance Swimmer'' in 2009 and '' The Poems of Dorothy Molloy'', which collected all of these and unpublished and uncollected work, in 2019.

Personal life

Molloy married Andrew Carpenter, a lecturer and professor from the School of English in UCD on 3 February 1983. They had no children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Molloy, Dorothy 1942 births 2004 deaths 20th-century Irish painters 20th-century Irish women artists Alumni of University College Dublin Irish women painters People from County Mayo 21st-century Irish poets 21st-century Irish women writers Irish women poets