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{{BLP sources|date=June 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Marita Conlon-McKenna
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1956|11|5|df=y}}
| occupation = Writer
| language = English
| subject = Historical fiction, children's fiction
| nationality =
| alma_mater = Convent of the Sacred Heart, Mount Anville
| spouse = James McKenna
| awards = Bisto Irish Book of the Year Award
International Reading Association Award
Reading Association of Ireland Award
| period = 1990-present
| children = 4
| website = {{url|www.maritaconlonmckenna.com}}
| notableworks = ''Under the Hawthorn Tree''
}}


'''Marita Conlon-McKenna''' (born 5 November 1956) is an [[Irish people|Irish]] author of children's books and adult fiction. She is best known for her [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Famine]]-era historical children's book ''[[Under the Hawthorn Tree (novel)|Under the Hawthorn Tree]]'', the first book of the ''Children of the Famine'' trilogy, which was published in 1990 and achieved immediate success.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.obrien.ie/marita-conlonmckenna|title=Marita Conlon-McKenna|last=|first=|date=|website=The O'Brien Press|access-date=18 January 2020}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.irishbookawards.irish/ibaauthor/marita-conlon-mckenna/|title=An Post Irish Book Awards » Marita Conlon-McKenna|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-01-18}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":0" /> Conlon-McKenna went on to be a prolific writer and has published over 20 books for both young readers and adults.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/marita-conlon-mckenna-i-didn-t-think-i-would-write-another-famine-novel-1.4131816|title=Marita Conlon-McKenna: ‘I didn’t think I would write another Famine novel’|last=|first=|date=|website=The Irish Times - Culture|access-date=18 January 2020}}</ref> Her debut adult novel ''Magdalen'' was published in 1999.<ref name=":2" />
'''Marita Conlon-McKenna''' (born 1956) is an [[Irish people|Irish]] children's writer.


== Biography ==
Conlon-McKenna was born in [[Dublin]] and raised in [[Goatstown]].<ref name=obrien/> Her Children of the Famine trilogy was inspired by the [[Great Irish Famine]].
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.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/a-woman-s-place-1.235796|title=A woman's place|website=The Irish Times|language=en|access-date=2020-01-19}}</ref>


She married James McKenna at age 20 and had jobs in the family business, in a bank, and with a travel agency.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":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.<ref name=":2" />
Marita has won several [[literary award]]s, including the ''International Reading Association Award''', the ''Osterreichischer Kinder und Jugendbuchpreis'', the ''Reading Association of Ireland Award'' and the ''[[Bisto Book of the Year Award]]'' (1993).

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.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":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.<ref name=":0" /> ''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.<ref name=":1" />

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 [[CBI Book of the Year Awards|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,<ref name=":0" /> ''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 Laundries in Ireland|Magdalene Laundry]] in 1950s Ireland.<ref name=":1" /> 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.<ref name=":2" /> This subject interested her because of her personal adoption story.<ref name=":4" />

Conlon-McKenna carried out extensive historical research for her 1916-era novel ''Rebel Sisters''. Based on real-life Gifford sisters [[Nellie Gifford|Nellie]], Muriel and [[Grace Gifford|Grace]], who were involved in the [[Easter Rising|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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.ie/life/books-gripping-true-story-of-the-gifford-girls-34385789.html|title=Books: Gripping true story of the Gifford girls|website=Independent.ie|language=en|access-date=2020-01-19}}</ref>

In 2020, Conlon-McKenna published ''The Hungry Road'', a historical novel set in [[Skibbereen]], County 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rte.ie/culture/2020/0114/1107337-back-to-the-famine-marita-conlon-mckenna-on-the-hungry-road/|title=Back to the Famine: Marita Conlon-McKenna on The Hungry Road|last=|first=|date=|website=RTE.ie/culture|access-date=18 January 2020}}</ref>

Marita and her husband James have four children and they live in [[Stillorgan]] in County Dublin. She is a promoter of the arts and was the chairperson of Irish PEN.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.universitytimes.ie/2016/10/on-historical-influences-and-the-evolution-of-publishing-marita-conlon-mckenna-addresses-trinity-literary-society/|title=Marita Conlon-McKenna on 1916, Historical Influences and the Evolution of Publishing|website=www.universitytimes.ie|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-18}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/marita-conlon-mckenna/|title=Marita Conlon-McKenna|website=www.fantasticfiction.com|access-date=2020-01-19}}</ref>


==Works==
==Works==
'''''Children of the Famine'' series'''

*''[[Under the Hawthorn Tree (novel)|Under the Hawthorn Tree]]'' (1990), illustrated by Donald Teskey
*''[[Wildflower Girl]]'' (1991), illustrated by Donald Teskey
*''[[Fields of Home]]'' (1996), illustrated by Donald Teskey


'''Children's novels'''
*''[[Under the Hawthorn Tree (novel)|Under the Hawthorn Tree]]'', Conlon-McKenna and Donald Teskey (1990) – The Children of the Famine, book&nbsp;1
*''[[The Blue Horse]]'' (1992), illustrated by Donald Teskey
*''[[Wildflower Girl]]'', C–M and Teskey (1991) – The Children of the Famine,&nbsp;2
*''[[The Blue Horse]]'', C–M and Teskey (1992)
*''[[Little Star (Irish novel)|Little Star]]'', C-M and Christopher Coady (1993)
*''[[The Very Last Unicorn]]'', C-M and Coady (1995)
*''[[Safe Harbour (Marita Conlon-McKenna novel)|Safe Harbour]]'' (1995)
*''[[Safe Harbour (Marita Conlon-McKenna novel)|Safe Harbour]]'' (1995)
*''[[Fields of Home]]'', C–M and Teskey (1996) – The Children of the Famine,&nbsp;3
*''[[No Goodbye]]'' (1997)
*''[[No Goodbye]]'' (1997)
*''[[Granny MacGinty]]'' (1999)
*''[[In Deep Dark Wood]]'' (1999)
*''[[In Deep Dark Wood]]'' (1999)
* ''[[A Girl Called Blue]]'' (2003)
*''Love, Lucie'' (2012)

'''Novels'''

*''[[The Magdalen]]'' (1999)
*''[[The Magdalen]]'' (1999)
* ''[[Promised Land (2000 novel)|Promised Land]]'' (2000)
*''[[Faoin Sceach Gheal]]'', C-M, Teskey and Maire Nic Mhaolain (2000)
*''[[Promised Land (2000 novel)|Promised Land]]'' (2000)
* ''[[Miracle Woman]]'' (2002)
*''[[Good Girl (story)|Good Girl]]'' (2001) – short story
* ''[[The Stone House (novel)|The Stone House]]'' (2004)
*''[[Im Drachenwald]]'' (2002)
* ''[[The Hat Shop on the Corner]]'' (2006)
*''[[Miracle Woman]]'' (2002)
*''[[A Girl Called Blue]]'' (2003)
*''[[The Stone House]]'' (2004)
*''[[The Hat Shop on the Corner]]'' (2006)
*''[[The Matchmaker (novel)|The Matchmaker]]'' (2008)
*''[[The Matchmaker (novel)|The Matchmaker]]'' (2008)
*''[[Monther of the Bride (novel)|Mother of the Bride]]'' (2010)
*''[[Mother of the Bride (novel)|Mother of the Bride]]'' (2010)
A Taste for Love (novel) (2011)
*''[[A Taste for Love (novel)|A Taste for Love]]'' (2011)
*''Three Women'' (2012)
==References==
*''The Rose Garden'' (2013)
{{reflist |refs=
* ''Rebel Sisters'' (2016)
*''The Hungry Road'' (2020)


'''Novellas'''
<ref name=obrien>
[http://www.obrien.ie/author.cfm?authorid=59 "Marita Conlon-McKenna"]. [[O'Brien Press |The O'Brien Press Ltd]] (obrien.ie). Retrieved 2015-09-28.</ref>
}}


* ''The Snow Globe'' (2014)
==External links==
{{Portal |Children's literature |Ireland}}


'''Picture books'''
* ''[[Little Star (Irish novel)|Little Star]]'' (1993), illustrated by Christopher Coady
* ''[[The Very Last Unicorn]]'' (1995), illustrated by Christopher Coady
* ''[[Granny MacGinty]]'' (1999), illustrated by Leonie Shearing

'''Short stories'''
* ''[[Good Girl (story)|Good Girl]]'' (2001)

== Awards ==

''Under the Hawthorn Tree''
* International Reading Association Award (US, 1991)
* Reading Association of Ireland Award (1993)
* Frankfurt Book Fair Children's Choice Book Prize (Germany, 1993)
*'Austrian Children and Youth Book Prize (1994)
* Shortlisted - City of Poitiers European Grand Prize for Children's Novels (France, 1994)<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=https://maritaconlonmckenna.com/childrens-books/under-the-hawthorn-tree/|title=Under the Hawthorn Tree|date=2012-07-25|website=Marita Conlon-McKenna|language=en|access-date=2020-01-19}}</ref>

''Wildflower Girl''
* Bisto Book of the Year Award for Historical Fiction (1992)

''The Blue Horse''
* [[Bisto Book of the Year Award]] (1993)<ref name=":3" />

''Safe Harbour''
* Shortlisted - [[Bisto Book of the Year Award]] (1995)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tarabookco.ie/book-detail.php?b=13479|title=Tara Book Company - Children's Books, Galway Ireland|website=www.tarabookco.ie|access-date=2020-01-19}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://maritaconlonmckenna.com Official website]
* {{LCAuth|n90613942|Marita Conlon-McKenna|17|ue}}
* {{LCAuth|n90613942|Marita Conlon-McKenna|17|ue}}


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[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Irish children's writers]]
[[Category:Irish children's writers]]
[[Category:Irish women writers]]
[[Category:Irish writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Irish writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Irish writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Irish writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Irish writers]]
[[Category:Women children's writers]]
[[Category:Irish women children's writers]]
[[Category:20th-century women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Irish women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Irish women writers]]


{{Ireland-writer-stub}}

Latest revision as of 01:36, 21 August 2023

Marita Conlon-McKenna
Born (1956-11-05) 5 November 1956 (age 67)
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]

Biography[edit]

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, County 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 County Dublin. She is a promoter of the arts and was the chairperson of Irish PEN.[7][8]

Works[edit]

Children of the Famine series

Children's novels

Novels

Novellas

  • The Snow Globe (2014)

Picture books

Short stories

Awards[edit]

Under the Hawthorn Tree

  • International Reading Association Award (US, 1991)
  • Reading Association of Ireland Award (1993)
  • Frankfurt Book Fair Children's Choice Book Prize (Germany, 1993)
  • 'Austrian Children and Youth Book Prize (1994)
  • Shortlisted - City of Poitiers European Grand Prize for Children's Novels (France, 1994)[9]

Wildflower Girl

  • Bisto Book of the Year Award for Historical Fiction (1992)

The Blue Horse

Safe Harbour

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Marita Conlon-McKenna". The O'Brien Press. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  2. ^ a b c "An Post Irish Book Awards » Marita Conlon-McKenna". Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Marita Conlon-McKenna: 'I didn't think I would write another Famine novel'". The Irish Times - Culture. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d "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.
  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. ^ a b "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.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marita_Conlon-McKenna&oldid=1171427305"