Maeve Kelly

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Maeve Kelly (2 July 1930 – 1 August 2025) was an Irish writer known for her novels, poems and short stories. She also spoke up for women and children who suffered from domestic abuse. Kelly was born in Ennis, County Clare, and grew up in Dundalk, County Louth. She trained as a nurse in Oxford and at St Andrew's Hospital in London. In 1958 she married Gerard O'Brien Kelly. They farmed in County Clare in the early years of their marriage and moved closer to Limerick city in 1972. They had two children, Joseph and Oona. Oona was killed in a motorcycle crash in 1991, which is reflected in Kelly's poetry collection Lament for Oona. Kelly wrote novels, short stories and poems, often about women's lives and struggles. Her first published story appeared in the Irish Press in 1971, and she won a Hennessy Literary Award in 1972. In the 1970s she joined the women’s movement and helped start Adapt House, a Limerick refuge for women suffering from domestic violence, which she ran for 15 years. She also founded the Limerick Federation of Women's Organisations and the National Federation of Refugees. Kelly died on 1 August 2025 at the age of 95.