Binchy, Maeve (1940–)
Binchy, Maeve (1940–)
Irish novelist and journalist. Born Maeve Binchy, Mar 28, 1940, in Dublin, Ireland; grew up in Dalkey; eldest of 4 children of Maureen (Blackmore) Binchy (nurse) and William T. Binchy (lawyer); graduate of University College, Dublin, c. 1961; m. Gordon Snell (children's author and BBC correspondent), 1975; no children.
Though she grew up Catholic, was a teacher at the Zion Schools in Dublin and worked on a kibbutz in Israel; became a columnist for Irish Times (1968), then its London correspondent (1970); saw production in Dublin of her one-act play, "End of Term," and a release of a collection of Times articles, My First Book (1976), followed by Maeve's Diary (1979); published a book of short fiction, The Central Line (1977); other short-story collections include Victoria Line (1980) and The Lilac Bus (1984); published 1st novel, Light a Penny Candle (1982), an instant commercial success; other novels include Echoes (1984), Silver Wedding (1988), Circle of Friends (1990), which was the basis for the film of the same name, The Glass Lake (1994) and Quentins (2002). Her tv play, Deeply Regretted By, won 2 Irish Jacob's Awards and Best Script Award at Prague Film Festival.