Biography
O'Donnell was born in County Monaghan and was raised close to the border with Northern Ireland. Her Kilkenny-born father held a B. Ag from University College Cork, and transferred to Monaghan to become Town of Monaghan Co-op's first Catholic General Manager in 1947. Her Monaghan-born mother Maureen (née Macklin) was an accomplished singer and actor on the amateur circuit. O'Donnell was educated at St. Louis Secondary School, Monaghan [1] and attended college at St. Patrick's College, Maynooth(NUI), now Maynooth University. There she gained a degree in German and philosophy and an MA in German studies, followed by a First Class Hons Higher Diploma in education, which she used to become a language and drama teacher. In 2019 she was conferred with a PhD in Creative Writing from UCC. She is married to Martin Nugent, former Assistant Headmaster of Clongowes Wood College. They have one daughter, Anna O'Donnell Nugent. They live in County Kildare. [2] [3]
O'Donnell left teaching to work as a Drama Critic and journalist for the Sunday Tribune (1988–1991). During that period, her literary output increased. She became a regular contributor to The Irish Times, The Irish Independent and Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) as well as to various literary journals. Her first novel, The Light-Makers, was an Irish best-seller and won the Sunday Tribune's Best New Irish Novel for 1992. [3] [4]
She has written and published four novels, including The Elysium Testament and Where They Lie, eight collections of poetry (including Those April Fevers Arc UK 2015 and "Massacre of the Birds", Salmon 2020), and three volumes of short stories. She has also taken part in several RTE radio programmes she scripted and presented, and won several awards for her writing in both fiction and poetry. In 2007 she was writer-in-residence at the Princess Grace Irish Library in Monaco. Her work has been translated into Hungarian, for which she was co-recipient of the 2012 Irodalmi Jelen Award for Translation. Most recently, her poetry has been translated into Brazilian Portuguese and her short stories into Spanish (in Argentina). The work Giving Shape to the Moment: the Art of Mary O'Donnell, Poet, Novelist & Short-story Writer includes a selection of essays responding to her writing in each genre, an interview from Irish academic Dr Anne Fogarty, and offers a powerful overview of her contribution to Irish letters. [5]
O'Donnell has taught creative writing at Maynooth University, was a mentor on the Carlow University, Pittsburgh MFA in Creative Writing programme for eleven years, and also contributed to the faculty of the University of Iowa's summer writing programme at Trinity College, Dublin for three years. She also taught Poetry and Fiction for three years on Galway University's MA in Creative Writing. She is a former member of the Irish Writers' Union, a former Board Member of the Irish Writers Centre, a member of Aosdána and served for three years on Maynooth University's Governing Authority, representing arts and culture. [4] [6]
O'Donnell has been a judge for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Hennessy Literary Award, the Strokestown International Poetry Competition, Poetry Now and the Irish Times/Mountains to Sea Poetry Prize. [4] [7]
She is represented by the Marianne Gunne O'Connor Literary Agency.
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