Maura Laverty

Maura Laverty (née Kelly; 1907 - July 26, 1966) was an author, journalist and broadcaster known for her work on Irish soap opera Tolka Row. She published several novels, short stories and critical pieces throughout her career.

Born in Rathangan, Kildare, Ireland, Laverty was educated at Brigidine Convent, Carlow, where she studied teacher-training.^[1] She later moved to Spain, taking up the position of governess and later secretary to Princess Bibesco and eventually becoming a foreign correspondent based within Madrid. Laverty returned to Ireland for the remainder of her career and worked as a journalist and broadcaster in Dublin. Her first novel Never No More was published in 1942 and based in Co. Kildare, drawing heavily on personal experiences during her time in Derrymore House.^[2] Laverty would follow this with such works as Touched by the Thorn (1943) and Alone We Embark (1943).

She is well known as the writer of RTÉ's Tolka Row, the station's first soap opera that ran between 1964–68, itself largely an adaptation of her play Liffey Lane. Laverty also wrote numerous children's stories including The Cottage in the Bog (1946) and The Green Orchard (1949).

Novels

• Never No More (1942)
• Alone We Embark (1943), issued in America as Touched by the Thorn (1943)
• No More than Human (1944)
• Gold of Glanaree (1945)
• The Cottage in the Bog (1946)
• Lift Up Your Gates (1946)
• The Green Orchard (1949)
• The Queen of Aran’s Daughter (later published in 1995)

Plays

• A Tree in the Crescent
• Liffey Lane
• Tolka Row

Miscellaneous

• Flour Economy (1941)
• Maura Laverty’s Cookbook (1946)
• Kind Cooking (1955);
• Full and Plenty (1960)

Critical Pieces

• Luke Gibbons, ‘From Kitchen Sink to Soap; Drama and the Serial Form on Irish Television’, in Transformations in Irish Culture (Cork UP 1996), pp. 44–69.

• Maura Laverty, ‘Profile’, RTV Guide, 13 May 1966, p.15; Gibbons, p.56.

References

1. ^ [1]Irish Playography
2. ^ [2]Maura Laverty^{[dead link]}

Persondata
Name	Laverty, Maura
Alternative names
Short description	Actor and writer
Date of birth	1907
Place of birth	Rathangan, Kildare, Ireland
Date of death	26 July 1966
Place of death