Marita Conlon-McKenna

Last updated

Marita Conlon-McKenna
Born (1956-11-05) 5 November 1956 (age 65)
OccupationWriter
LanguageEnglish
Alma materConvent of the Sacred Heart, Mount Anville
Period1990-present
SubjectHistorical fiction, children's fiction
Notable worksUnder the Hawthorn Tree
Notable awardsBisto Irish Book of the Year Award

International Reading Association Award

Reading Association of Ireland Award
SpouseJames McKenna
Children4
Website
www.maritaconlonmckenna.com

Marita Conlon-McKenna (born 5 November 1956) is an Irish author of children's books and adult fiction. She is best known for her Famine-era historical children's book Under the Hawthorn Tree , the first book of the Children of the Famine trilogy, which was published in 1990 and achieved immediate success. [1] [2] Praised for its child-accessible yet honest depiction of the Great Famine, Under the Hawthorn Tree has been translated into over a dozen languages and is taught in classrooms worldwide. [1] Conlon-McKenna went on to be a prolific writer and has published over 20 books for both young readers and adults. [3] Her debut adult novel Magdalen was published in 1999. [3]

Contents

Biography

Conlon-McKenna was born in Dublin and raised in Goatstown. She attended school at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Mount Anville. She excelled at school but deferred a place at university to care for her father. [4]

She married James McKenna at age 20 and had jobs in the family business, in a bank, and with a travel agency. [1] [4] She took an interest in writing and enrolled in writing classes in UCD, including courses in Anglo-Irish literature, women's studies and children's literature. [3]

While a mother of young children, she began writing a picture book for her daughter. She credits Dr Pat Donlon, director of the Children's Literature course, with encouraging and supporting her to publish her work. [3] [4] The inspiration for her first children's novel Under the Hawthorn Tree came when she heard a radio report on the discovery of an unmarked grave under a hawthorn tree, where three children from the Famine era were buried. [1] Under the Hawthorn Tree was a worldwide success and sold over 250,000 copies in the Irish market alone, earning its status as a classic children's novel. [2]

Conlon-McKenna went on to write more books for young readers. Her characters are often depicted in challenging situations or life events. Among her historical children's books are Safe Harbour, set during World War II, which was shortlisted for the Bisto Book of the Year Award, and two follow-up books to Under the Hawthorn Tree: Wildflower Girl and Fields of Home, which completed the Children of the Famine trilogy. Other children's books include The Blue Horse, which won the Bisto Irish Book of the Year Award and reached the top of the bestseller's list in 1993, [1] No Goodbye, and A Girl Called Blue.

Her debut novel for adults, The Magdalen, was a number-one bestseller in 1999, telling the story of a young pregnant woman sent to a Magdalene Laundry in 1950s Ireland. [2] Conlon-McKenna said that she naturally made a shift from children to adult's writing when she decided to write a story about the Magdalene Laundries. [3] This subject interested her because of her personal adoption story. [4]

Conlon-McKenna carried out extensive historical research for her 1916-era novel Rebel Sisters. Based on real-life Gifford sisters Nellie, Muriel and Grace, who were involved in the 1916 Rising in Dublin, Rebel Sisters became a number-one bestseller when it was released in 2016 on the centenary year of the 1916 Rising. [5]

In 2020, Conlon-McKenna published The Hungry Road, a historical novel set in Skibbereen, Co. Cork during the Great Famine. Published 30 years after Under the Hawthorn Tree, The Hungry Road was inspired partly by the diaries of Dr Daniel Donovan, a dispensary doctor in the Skibbereen Workhouse during the 1840s. [6]

Marita and her husband James have four children and they live in Stillorgan in Co. Dublin. She is a promoter of the arts and was the chairperson of Irish PEN. [7] [8]

Works

Children of the Famine series

Children's novels

Novels

Novellas

Picture books

Short stories

Awards

Under the Hawthorn Tree

Wildflower Girl

The Blue Horse

Safe Harbour

Related Research Articles

Legacy of the Great Irish Famine

The legacy of the Great Famine in Ireland followed a catastrophic period of Irish history between 1845 and 1852 during which time the population of Ireland was reduced by 50 percent.

Anne Evelyn Bunting , also known as Eve Bunting, is a Northern Ireland-born American writer of more than 250 books. Her work covers a broad array of subjects and includes fiction and non-fiction books. Her novels are primarily aimed at children and young adults, but she has also written the text for picture books. While many of her books are set in Northern Ireland, where she grew up, her topics and settings range from Thanksgiving to riots in Los Angeles. Bunting's first book, The Two Giants, was published in 1971. Due to the popularity of her books with children, she has been listed as one of the Educational Paperback Association's top 100 authors.

Susan Shreve American novelist

Susan Shreve is an American novelist, memoirist, and children's book author. She has published fifteen novels, most recently More News Tomorrow (2019), and a memoir Warm Springs: Traces of a Childhood (2007). She has also published thirty books for children, most recently The Lovely Shoes (2011), and edited or co-edited five anthologies. Shreve co-founded the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing program at George Mason University in 1980, where she teaches fiction writing. She is the co-founder and the former chairman of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Events from the year 1990 in Ireland.

Siobhán Parkinson is an Irish writer. She writes for both children and adults and was made Laureate na nÓg in 2010.

Siobhan Dowd English writer and activist (1960–2007)

Siobhan Dowd was a British writer and activist. The last book she completed, Bog Child, posthumously won the 2009 Carnegie Medal from the professional librarians, recognising the year's best book for children or young adults published in the UK.

<i>Under the Hawthorn Tree</i> (novel) Irish childrens novel, 1990, first in a trilogy

Under the Hawthorn Tree is a children's historical novel by Marita Conlon-McKenna, the first in her Children of the Famine trilogy set at the time of the Great Famine in Ireland. It was published by the O'Brien Press in May 1990. It was adapted for television in 1999.

Oisín McGann Irish writer and illustrator, mainly speculative fiction for young people

Oisín McGann is an Irish writer and illustrator, who writes in a range of genres for children and teenagers, mainly science fiction and fantasy, and has illustrated many of his own short story books for younger readers.

Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, also known as Eilis Almquist and Elizabeth O'Hara, is an Irish novelist and short story writer who writes both in Irish and English. She has been shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, and is a recipient of the Irish PEN Award.

The CBI Book of the Year Awards, previously known as the Bisto Book of the Year Awards, are literary awards presented annually in the Republic of Ireland to writers and illustrators of books for children and young people. The Awards are run by Children's Books Ireland (CBI) and are open to authors and illustrators born or resident in Ireland; books may be written in English or Irish. Many bestselling, internationally renowned authors have won a "Bisto", including Eoin Colfer, John Boyne and several times winner Kate Thompson.

The O'Brien Press is an Irish publisher of mainly children's fiction and adult non-fiction.

The Irish Book Awards are Irish literary awards given annually to books and authors in various categories. In 2018 An Post took over sponsorship of the awards from Bord Gais Energy. It is the only literary award supported by all-Irish bookstores. First awarded in 2006, they grew out of the Hughes & Hughes bookstore's Irish Novel of the Year Prize which was inaugurated in 2000. Since 2007 the Awards have been an independent not-for-profit company funded by sponsorship. The primary sponsor is An Post, the state owned postal service in Ireland. There are currently nine categories, seven of which are judged by the Irish Literary Academy, two by a public vote. There is also a lifetime achievement award.

Charlene McKenna Irish actress

Charlene Lee McKenna is an Irish actress. She became a household name in Ireland after starring as Jennifer Jackson in the miniseries Pure Mule (2005). She appeared on Irish television in Single-Handed 2 (2008), Whistleblower (2008), and Raw (2008–2013). For Raw, she won Best Actress (Television) at the Irish Film & Television Awards, and for Whistleblower, she won Outstanding Actress in a Mini-Series at the Monte Carlo Television Festival.

<i>Bog Child</i> 2008 historical novel by Siobhan Dowd

Bog Child is a historical novel by Siobhan Dowd published by David Fickling (UK) and Random House Children's Books (US) on 9 September 2008, more than a year after her death. Set in the 1980s amid the backdrop of the Troubles of Northern Ireland, it features an 18-year-old boy who must study for exams but experiences "his imprisoned brother's hunger strike, the stress of being a courier for the provisional IRA, and dreams of a murdered girl whose body he discovered in a bog." In flashback and dream there are elements of the murdered girl's prehistoric or protohistoric life and death.

Under the Hawthorn Tree may refer to:

Samuel McBratney was a writer from Northern Ireland. He wrote more than fifty books for children and young adults, and is best known as the author of the best-selling children's book Guess How Much I Love You, which has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, and been translated into 53 languages.

Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick is an Irish writer and illustrator best known for children's novels. She has won 10 CBI Book of the Year Awards, including 4 awards for Book of the Year.

Niamh Sharkey is the author and illustrator of children’s picturebooks who has been Laureate na nÓg.

June Considine is a best selling Irish children's author and novelist. She also uses the pen name Laura Elliot.

RTÉ's Home School Hub, or simply Home School Hub, and its companion show Home School Extra, was an educational television programme which was created in response to the closure of all schools during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland in 2020. Announced on 21 March, it began broadcasting on RTÉ2 on 30 March, aimed at children attending 1st–6th class of primary school. The first series ended on 19 June. A new series After School Hub began on 11 October, broadcasting in the afternoon to cater for children whose parents are working from home. The series finished on 19 March 2021.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Marita Conlon-McKenna". The O'Brien Press. Retrieved 18 January 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. 1 2 3 "An Post Irish Book Awards » Marita Conlon-McKenna" . Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Marita Conlon-McKenna: 'I didn't think I would write another Famine novel'". The Irish Times - Culture. Retrieved 18 January 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. 1 2 3 4 "A woman's place". The Irish Times. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  5. ↑ "Books: Gripping true story of the Gifford girls". Independent.ie. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  6. ↑ "Back to the Famine: Marita Conlon-McKenna on The Hungry Road". RTE.ie/culture. Retrieved 18 January 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ↑ "Marita Conlon-McKenna on 1916, Historical Influences and the Evolution of Publishing". www.universitytimes.ie. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  8. ↑ "Marita Conlon-McKenna". www.fantasticfiction.com. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  9. 1 2 "Under the Hawthorn Tree". Marita Conlon-McKenna. 25 July 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  10. ↑ "Tara Book Company - Children's Books, Galway Ireland". www.tarabookco.ie. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.