Mary Lavin (1912-1996), short-story writer and novelist, was born to Irish parents in Massachusetts, USA. She moved to Ireland at the age of nine. Lavin received bachelors and masters degrees from University College Dublin, and attended classes in this very building during the 1930s. A literary pioneer, Lavin’s portrayals of ordinary, domestic lives contain sharp social critiques. Her renowned collection about widowhood, The Middle of the Fields, shows Lavin’s sensitivity to the intimate lives and desires of women. Living between County Meath and Dublin, Lavin would often write on buses and in cafés, including nearby Bewley’s. Her work received international prizes and her stories were published in The New Yorker. Lavin died in Dublin in 1996. A new public square near Baggot Street – Mary Lavin Place – was opened in her honour in June 2024.
