Lavin, Mary, 1912-1996

Irish author, farmer, and teacher; b. in the U.S.; d. 1996.

Mary Lavin, author of exquisitely told short stories, was born in East Walpole, Massachusetts on June 11, 1912. When she was ten, her parents moved to Ireland. She was educated at Loreto Convent, Stephen's Green, Dublin, and the National University of Ireland at Dublin, where her M.A. thesis on Jane Austen won her first class honors. Her first story, "Miss Holland" was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. In September 1942 she married William Walsh, a lawyer, who later entered politics. They had three children. Following her husband's premature death, Ms. Lavin devoted her energies to running the farm, rearing her children, writing on the kitchen table in the evening. Her stories have been published in the Atlantic Monthly, Harper's Bazaar, The New Yorker, and other fine magazines, as well as in collected volumes. She is also the author of two novels: The House in Clew Street and Mary O'Grady.

Irish writer Mary Lavin (1912–1996) is known for her short stories and novels. She spent the first ten years of her life in her birthplace, the United States of America, and was thereafter raised in Ireland.

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