May O'Flaherty (born Mary Angela Flaherty, 14 May 1904 – 27 March 1991) was an Irish book store proprietor, known as the owner of Parsons Bookshop at

Baggot Street Baggot Street () is a street in Dublin, Ireland. Location The street runs from Merrion Row (near St. Stephen's Green) to the northwestern end of Pembroke Road. It crosses the Grand Canal near Haddington Road. It is divided into two sections: ...

Bridge in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

's southside. ( Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence) Through the shop's

writer-in-residence Artist-in-residence (also Writer-in-residence), or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs that involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs that pr ...

schemes, and general environment, she patronised and befriended prominent Irish writers such as

Patrick Kavanagh Patrick Kavanagh (21 October 1904 – 30 November 1967) was an Irish poet and novelist. His best-known works include the novel ''Tarry Flynn'', and the poems "On Raglan Road" and "The Great Hunger". He is known for his accounts of Irish life th ...

Brendan Behan Brendan Francis Aidan Behan (christened Francis Behan) ( ; ; 9 February 1923 – 20 March 1964) was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, playwright, and Irish Republican, an activist who wrote in both English and Irish. His widely ackno ...

, and

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish Irish poetry, poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best-known works is ''Death of a Naturalist'' (1966), his first m ...

Background

May was born on 14 May 1904 in

Youghal Youghal ( ; ) is a seaside resort town in County Cork, Ireland. Located on the estuary of the Munster Blackwater, River Blackwater, the town is a former military and economic centre. Located on the edge of a steep riverbank, the town has a long ...

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

, to Thomas Flaherty, a

Royal Irish Constabulary The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC, ; simply called the Irish Constabulary 1836–67) was the police force in Ireland from 1822 until 1922, when all of the island was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom. A sep ...

sergeant, originally from

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

, and Catherine (née Drummy) O'Flaherty, from Kilmichael, County Cork. The family moved from

to Dublin, due to Thomas' placement, living in Arran Quay and near the

North Circular Road The North Circular Road (officially the A406 and sometimes known as simply the North Circular) is a ring road around Central London. It runs from Chiswick in the west to North Woolwich in the east via suburban north London, connecting var ...

. May worked in a

furrier Fur clothing is clothing made from the preserved skins of mammals. Fur is one of the oldest forms of clothing and is thought to have been widely used by people for at least 120,000 years. The term 'fur' is often used to refer to a specific item ...

's on

Grafton Street Grafton Street () is one of the two principal shopping streets in Dublin city centre — the other being Henry Street. It runs from St Stephen's Green in the south (at the highest point of the street) to College Green in the north (the low ...

for a time.

Parsons Bookshop

O'Flaherty purchased Parsons general store on

Bridge in 1949. The purchase was somewhat inadvertent, as her intention was to be in the purchase auction in order to inflate the price. Books were a small part of the business early on, attracting custom from locally based poet

. At Kavanagh's suggestion, a deal was struck with

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

and the book offering improved over time. Kavanagh's presence changed from that of a customer to a guest as his interactions with Parsons became more familiar. Other writers followed with

, and

Brian O'Nolan Brian O'Nolan (; 5 October 19111 April 1966), his pen name being Flann O'Brien, was an Irish civil service official, novelist, playwright and satirist, who is now considered a major figure in twentieth-century Irish literature. Born in Straban ...

among the most notable early on. Less-established writers thrived in the environment with

Hugh Leonard Hugh Leonard (9 November 1926 – 12 February 2009) was an Irish dramatist, television writer, and essayist. In a career that spanned 50 years, Leonard wrote nearly 30 full-length plays, 10 one-act plays, three volumes of essay, two autobiograph ...

Michael Hartnett Michael Hartnett () (18 September 1941 – 13 October 1999) was an Irish poet who wrote in both English and Irish. He was one of the most significant voices in late 20th-century Irish writing and has been called "Munster's de facto poet laurea ...

Peter Costello Peter Howard Costello (born 14 August 1957) is an Australian businessman, lawyer and former politician who served as the treasurer of Australia in Howard government, government of John Howard from 1996 to 2007. He is the longest-serving trea ...

and Adrian Kenny. The area, and the cultural movement associated with it, not least with Parsons, became known as " Baggotonia". When Kavanagh died in 1967, O'Flaherty created a shrine to his work in the shop. Later writers supported by the store included

Paul Durcan Paul Francis Durcan (16 October 1944 – 17 May 2025) was an Irish poet who was Ireland Professor of Poetry between 2004 and 2007. Early life and education Paul Francis Durcan was born in Dublin on 16 October 1944. He grew up in Dublin and s ...

Brendan Kennelly Timothy Brendan Kennelly (17 April 1936 – 17 October 2021), usually known as Brendan Kennelly, was an Irish poet and novelist. He was Professor of Modern Literature at Trinity College Dublin until 2005. Following his retirement he was a prof ...

John Banville William John Banville (born 8 December 1945) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, Literary adaptation, adapter of dramas and screenwriter. Though he has been described as "the heir to Marcel Proust, Proust, via Vladimir Nabokov, Nabokov", ...

, Ben Kiely and

Maeve Binchy Anne Maeve Binchy Snell (28 May 1939Born 1939 as per biography, ''Maeve Binchy'' by Piers Dudgeon, Thomas Dunne Books 2013; (hardcover), pp. 4, 280, 302; (ebook) – 30 July 2012) was an Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, column ...

Mary Lavin Mary Josephine Lavin (10 June 1912 – 25 March 1996) was an American-born Irish author of short stories and novels, now regarded as a pioneer in the field of women's writing. The well-known Anglo-Irish writer Lord Dunsany mentored Lavin after ...

stated "Parsons is my parlour." In April 1989, O'Flaherty sold the

leasehold A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property in which a Lease, lessee or a tenant has rights of real property by some form of title (property), title from a lessor or landlord. Although a tenant does hold right ...

for

IR£ The pound ( Irish: ) was the currency of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the symbol was £ (or £Ir for distinction.) The Irish pound was replaced by the euro on 1 January 1999. Euro currency did not begin circulation until ...

156,000, drawing media attention. In 2004, the Monaghan Association erected a plaque commemorating Kavanagh on the wall of the former Parsons premises.

Later life and death

In retirement, O'Flaherty lived in the suburban town of

Dun Laoghaire Dun most commonly refers to: *Dun gene, which produces a brownish-gray color (dun) in horses and other Equidae *Dun (fortification), an ancient or medieval fort Dun or DUN may also refer to: Places Scotland * Dun, Angus, a civil parish in S ...

, before moving to a nursing home in

Dalkey Dalkey ( ; ) is a village in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown county southeast of Dublin, Ireland. It was founded as a Viking settlement and became a port in the Middle Ages. According to chronicler John Clyn (c.1286–c.1349), it was one of the port ...

, where she died on 27 March 1991. She was interred in

Glasnevin Cemetery Glasnevin Cemetery () is a large cemetery in Glasnevin, Dublin, Ireland which opened in 1832. It holds the graves and memorials of several notable figures, and has a museum. Location The cemetery is located in Glasnevin, Dublin, in two part ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OFlaherty, May 1904 births 1991 deaths People from Youghal Businesspeople from Dublin (city) Businesspeople from County Cork 20th-century Irish women 20th-century Irish businesswomen 20th-century Irish businesspeople Irish patrons of literature Irish patrons of the arts Irish booksellers Burials at Glasnevin Cemetery