Máiréad Ní Ghráda (23 December 1896 – 13 June 1971) was an Irish

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

, and broadcaster born in

Kilmaley Kilmaley () is a village in County Clare, Ireland, west of Ennis. The name is from the Irish language or 'church of (Saint) Maley'. Geography The Kilmaley River runs through the village. Kilmaley is in the barony of Islands, much of whose lan ...

County Clare County Clare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern part of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council ...

Biography

Ní Ghráda's mother was Bridget Ní Ghrianna while her father, Séamas Ó Gráda, was a farmer, local county councillor and a native speaker of Irish. It is thought it was from him Máiréad got her love for the Irish language and he was known to recite ancient Munster Irish poems such as '' Cúirt an Mheán Oíche''. Ní Ghráda was jailed during the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the Anglo-Irish War, was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and Unite ...

in 1921 for selling republican flags, and later she became the secretary to the

Cumann na nGaedheal Cumann na nGaedheal (; ) was a political party in the Irish Free State, which formed the government from 1923 to 1932. It was named after the original Cumann na nGaedheal organisation which merged with the Dungannon Clubs and the National Co ...

Ernest Blythe Ernest William Blythe (; 13 April 1889 – 23 February 1975) was an Irish journalist, politician and managing director of the Abbey Theatre. He served as Minister for Local Government from 1922 to 1923, Minister for Finance from 1923 to 1932 ...

. Ní Ghráda was a children's program compiler on the 1926 radio station 2RN (which went on to become Radio Éireann), later becoming the station's principal announcer in 1929, holding that position until 1935 when she became a part-time announcer. During this period Ní Ghráda began to write radio and stage productions, and her play ''Micheál'' won an

Abbey Theatre The Abbey Theatre (), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland () is a theatre in Dublin, Ireland. First opening to the public on 27 December 1904, and moved from its original building after a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the p ...

award in 1933.

Notable works

Ní Ghráda's was first performed in

Micheál Mac Liammóir Micheál Mac Liammóir (born Alfred Lee Willmore; 25 October 1899 – 6 March 1978) was an actor, designer, dramatist, writer, and impresario in 20th-century Ireland. Though born in London to an English family with no Irish connections, he emig ...

Gate Theatre The Gate Theatre is a theatre on Cavendish Row in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1928. History Beginnings The Gate Theatre was founded in 1928 by Hilton Edwards and Micheál MacLiammóir with Daisy Bannard Cogley and Gearóid Ó Lochla ...

in Dublin in 1935. It was performed many times in subsequent decades.

Ní Ghráda is widely known for her 1964 play which brought her into the public eye, showing the harshness of Irish society and the hypocrisy at the time. While the storyline in was clearly inspired in part by the fate which befell

Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet and author. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for '' The Colossus and Other Poems'' (1960), '' Ariel'' (1965), a ...

in 1963, the

dramaturgy Dramaturgy is the study of dramatic composition and the representation of the main elements of drama on the stage. The role of a dramaturg in the field of modern dramaturgy is to help realize the multifaceted world of the play for a production u ...

and techniques utilised by Ní Ghráda throughout the play were strongly influenced by Bertholt Brecht. has been on the

Leaving Certificate A secondary school leaving qualification is a document signifying that the holder has fulfilled any secondary education requirements of their locality, often including the passage of a final qualification examination. For each leaving certificate ...

Irish curriculum since 1997.

Ní Ghráda's play is well known, and currently serves as an option of study for A-Level Irish in Northern Ireland.

''Progress in Irish''

Ní Ghráda is the author of one of the most widely used grammar books on the

Irish Language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

, ''Progress in Irish''.

is a 1937 comedy produced at the

Peacock Theatre The Peacock Theatre (previously the Royalty Theatre) is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, located in Portugal Street, near Aldwych. The 999-seat house is owned by, and comprises part of the London School of Economics and Political ...

in Dublin focusing on a complex marital situation. Two years beforehand Ní Ghráda was forced to give up her job in

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

when her husband, a senior Garda, was reinstated to his post.

Ní Ghráda's 1938 translation of

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythical ...

, the first in Irish.

(1940) is regarded as the first science fiction book in Irish.Philip O'Leary, ''Science Fiction and Fantasy in the Irish Language''
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Biography

Notable works

''Progress in Irish''

References

Further reading