Maeve Kelly
Maeve Kelly (2 July 19301 August 2025) was an Irish writer, known for her novels, poems and short stories. She was also known as a feminist activist and for her advocacy on behalf of women and children who suffered from domestic abuse.
Maeve Kelly
- Born
- 1930 · Dundalk.
- Nationality
- Ireland
- Occupation
- poet · writer
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Maeve Kelly. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q6729402 · wikipedia · Maeve Kelly
In this article
Life and career
Life and career
Kelly was born in Ennis, County Clare, Ireland, on 2 July, 1930, and raised in Dundalk, County Louth. She was trained as a nurse in Oxford and at St Andrew's Hospital in London. In 1958 Kelly married Gerard O'Brien Kelly. In the early years of their marriage they farmed in County Clare; in 1972 they moved closer to Limerick city. They had two children, Joseph and Oona. Oona was killed in a motorcycle crash in 1991, a loss reflected in Kelly's poetry collection Lament for Oona. Kelly wrote novels, short stories and poems, often dealing with women's lives and struggles. Her first published story appeared in the Irish Press in 1971. She received a Hennessy Literary Award in 1972. In the 1970s, Kelly joined the women's movement and co-founded Adapt House, a Limerick refuge for women suffering from domestic violence. She administered it for 15 years. She was also the founder of the Limerick Federation of Women's Organisations and the National Federation of Refugees. Kelly died on 1 August 2025, at age 95.
Fiction
Fiction
• A Life of Her Own (1976), short stories • Necessary Treasons (1985), novel • Orange Horses (1990), short stories • Florrie's Girls (1989), novel • Alice in Thunderland: A Feminist Fairytale (1993)
Poetry
Poetry
• Resolution (1986) • Lament for Oona (2005) • A Last Loving (2016)
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Maeve Kelly, revision 1371356751 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Schumaker, Jeanette. Divided Allegiances and Female Friendships in Irish Short Stories by Maeve Kelly and Rita Kelly. Short Story. 18. 2. 80–88. Fall 2010.
- 2.Rivera Izquierdo, Ángela. A 'New Irish Woman' Emerges: Subverting Femininity in Maeve Kelly's A Life of Her Own. Estudios Irlandeses. 12. 104–114. 2017. 10.24162/EI2017-6855.
- 3.Kelly, Maeve. Ricorso.
- 4.Workman, Simon. Maeve Kelly: Women, Ireland, and the Aesthetics of Radical Writing. Irish University Review. 49. 2. 304–321. November 2019. 10.3366/iur.2019.0408.
- 5.Maeve Kelly obituary: Poet, writer and women's rights activist. The Irish Times. 30 August 2025.
- 6.Feehily, Patricia. Proving comedy is undeveloped tragedy. Limerick Leader. 6. 28 October 1989.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 26 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,529 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Máeleoin Bódur Ó MaolconaireAuthor
- Maenghal the PilgrimAuthor
- Maeve BinchyAuthor
- Maeve BrennanAuthor
- Mafat OzaAuthor
- Maffeo VegioAuthor
- Mafika GwalaAuthor
- Magaly AlabauAuthor
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Maeve Kelly?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.