Maeve Brennan

Maeve Brennan (January 6, 1917 – November 1, 1993) was an Irish short story writer and journalist. She moved to the United States in 1934 when her father was appointed to the Irish Legation in Washington. She was an important figure in both Irish diaspora writing and in Irish writing itself. Collections of her articles, short stories, and a novella have been published.

She was born in Dublin and grew up at 48 Cherryfield Avenue in the Dublin suburb of Ranelagh. Her parents, Robert and Una, were Republicans and were deeply involved in the Irish political and cultural struggles of the early twentieth century. Robert Brennan (1881–1964) participated in the 1916 Easter Rising with his wife Úna Brennan but while she was imprisoned for a few days, he was sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted to penal servitude. His continuing political activity resulted in further imprisonments in 1917 and 1920. Maeve was born while he was in prison. He was director of publicity for the anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army during the Irish Civil War. He also founded and was the director of The Irish Press newspaper. His imprisonments and activities greatly fragmented Maeve Brennan's childhood. In her story The Day We Got Our Own Back she recounts her memory of how, when she was five, her home was raided by Free State forces looking for her father, who was on the run.

Robert Brennan was appointed the Irish Free State's first minister to the United States, and the family moved to Washington, D.C. in 1934, when Maeve was seventeen. She attended the Sisters of Providence Catholic school in Washington, Immaculata Seminary, graduating in 1936. She then graduated with a degree in English from American University in 1938. Maeve and two of her sisters remained in the United States when her parents and brother returned to Ireland in 1944.

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