Kate O'Brien – författare

This anthology provides access to neglected theatrical work and broadens our understanding of the history of Irish theatre as well as the vital role of women within it. The introduction places these plays in dialogue with one another as well as within the national context of the repealing of women’s rights during the Irish Free State years.These are plays by authors including Mary Manning, Dorothy Macardle, Mary Devenport O’Neill, Kate O'Brien and Margaret O’Leary, which are difficult to access, but which are increasingly visible in Irish theatre scholarship. This unique collection places the playwrights in dialogue to form a tradition of women’s theatrical work that challenges the male-dominated literary canon of Irish theatre, as well as enriching the body of women’s theatrical work in the Anglophone world during the interwar years.Includes the plays:Kate O’Brien – Distinguished Villa (1926)Margaret O’Leary – The Woman (1929)Mary Manning – Youth’s the Season (1931)Dorothy Macardle – Witch’s Brew (1931)Mary Devenport O’Neill – Bluebeard (1933)

This anthology provides access to neglected theatrical work and broadens our understanding of the history of Irish theatre as well as the vital role of women within it. The introduction places these plays in dialogue with one another as well as within the national context of the repealing of women’s rights during the Irish Free State years.These are plays by authors including Mary Manning, Dorothy Macardle, Mary Devenport O’Neill, Kate O'Brien and Margaret O’Leary, which are difficult to access, but which are increasingly visible in Irish theatre scholarship. This unique collection places the playwrights in dialogue to form a tradition of women’s theatrical work that challenges the male-dominated literary canon of Irish theatre, as well as enriching the body of women’s theatrical work in the Anglophone world during the interwar years.Includes the plays:Kate O’Brien – Distinguished Villa (1926)Margaret O’Leary – The Woman (1929)Mary Manning – Youth’s the Season (1931)Dorothy Macardle – Witch’s Brew (1931)Mary Devenport O’Neill – Bluebeard (1933)

Every child is born a physical, emotional and spiritual being. As parents and caregivers, it is our role to nurture these qualities and help young people mature into confident embodied adults and responsible custodians of our communities, economies and the Earth. But as the scaffolding of the old world has crumbled, we know that many members of Gen Z are experiencing anxiety, depression, addiction and even suicidality at epidemic levels. We want our children to grow up in an environment where they feel safe, loved, and can enjoy a deep sense of belonging. The sensitive, the open-hearted and empathetic ones are the most affected and these are the very people we need most in society.With contributions and timely solutions from leading scientists, doctors, inspirational teachers, visionaries and wisdom holders from varying traditions, the stories of hope in UN:Stuck offer guidance that will help our children mature into confident embodied adults packed with empathy, curiosity and a real sense of playfulness. The chapter titles in this book are rungs on a ladder of hope: Awakened Awareness, Emotional/Ethical intelligence, Interrelatedness (Ukama), Ethical Activism, Meaning & Purpose, Resilience/Courage/Curiosity, Creativity and Inclusion/The Whole Being.The result is a truly 360° vision of how we can support our young people, based on storytelling and wisdom in a way that reconnects them at a fundamental level with their world and seeds hope for the future.

Accounts of female offenders’ journeys into the criminal justice system are often silenced or marginalized. Featuring a Foreword from Pat Carlen and inspired by her seminal book ‘Criminal Women’, this collection uses participatory, inclusive and narrative methodologies to highlight the lived experiences of women involved with the criminal justice system. It presents studies focused on drug use and supply, sex work, sexual exploitation and experiences of imprisonment.Bringing together cutting-edge feminist research, this book exposes the intersecting oppressions and social control often central to women’s experiences of the justice system and offers invaluable insights for developing penal policies that account for the needs of women.

Accounts of female offenders’ journeys into the criminal justice system are often silenced or marginalized. Featuring a Foreword from Pat Carlen and inspired by her seminal book ‘Criminal Women’, this collection uses participatory, inclusive and narrative methodologies to highlight the lived experiences of women involved with the criminal justice system. It presents studies focused on drug use and supply, sex work, sexual exploitation and experiences of imprisonment.Bringing together cutting-edge feminist research, this book exposes the intersecting oppressions and social control often central to women’s experiences of the justice system and offers invaluable insights for developing penal policies that account for the needs of women.

This timely book offers a powerful exploration of how incarcerated mothers in the UK respond to separation from their children and manage their parental rights while in custody. Drawing on in-depth interviews and a participatory theatre project, the book gives voice to women navigating complex family court proceedings, trauma and the impact of gender-based violence and substance use on the removal of their children.With a distinctive rights-based approach, it highlights the structural harms of imprisonment and family separation on women. Bridging policy, practice and academia, this timely study addresses a critical gap in criminology literature, offering unique insights into maternal experiences of prison.

AN AWARD-WINNING AND REMARKABLE IRISH NOVELIST'A fuller appreciation of modern literature and a greater understanding of twentieth century Ireland' IRISH TIMES 'Writes with almost poetic intensity of the ecstasy and anguish of love' VAL HENNESSY'Stunning, unforgettable stories of sexuality and families, of self-discovery' MICHELE ROBERTSSpain in the years before the Armada, and high passion meets high politics. Ana, Princess of Eboli is a remarkable woman. Married at thirteen and losing an eye in a duel a year later, Ana is also heiress of Spain's leading family, widow of Philip II's wisest counsellor and rumoured to be the King's mistress. Unexpectedly - and unwisely - she falls in love with Don Antonio Perez, dandy, adulterer, skilled politician. With her unusual looks, her aristocratic arrogance and the simplicities of her faith, Ana cannot understand why her private life should become entangled with the affairs of state and, finally, incur the terrible vindictiveness of the King himself . . . Kate O'Brien's understanding and love of Spain enhance the beauty of this passionate and intelligent novel.

When Anthony Considine creeps into Mellick town with a stolen horse in 1789, it sets the destiny of his family for decades to come. By the 1850s, through thrift and hard work, his son Honest John has made the Considines a leading Mellick family. With his father's money, John's son Anthony builds a grand country house for his wife and children - but especially for his youngest son Denis, who he adores, little knowing that one day Denis will threaten the toil of generations with his love for a peasant girl ...

Mary Lavelle, a beautiful young Irish woman, travels to Spain to see some of the world before marrying her steadfast fiance John. But despite the enchanting surroundings and her three charming charges, life as governess to the wealthy Areavaga family is lonely and she is homesick. Then comes the arrival of the family's handsome, passionate - and married - son Juanito and Mary's loyalties and beliefs are challenged. Falling in love with Juanito and with Spain, Mary finds herself at the heart of a family and a nation divided.

AN AWARD-WINNING AND REMARKABLE IRISH NOVELIST'This subtle and beautifully constructed novel deals with the conflict between human and divine love' SUNDAY TIMES 'If novels can be music, this is a novel with perfect pitch' CLARE BOYLAN 'A fuller appreciation of modern literature and a greater understanding of twentieth century Ireland' IRISH TIMESMere Marie-Helene once turned her back on life, sealing up her heart in order to devote herself to God. Now the formidable Mother Superior of an Irish convent, she has, for some time, been experiencing grave doubts about her vocation. But when she meets Anna Murphy, the youngest-ever boarder, the little girl's solemn, poetic nature captivates her and she feels 'a storm break in her hollow heart'. Between them an unspoken allegiance is formed that will sustain each through the years as the Reverend Mother seeks to combat her growing spiritual aridity and as Anna develops the strength to resist the conventional demands of her background.

Ireland, 1880 and a prosperous, provincial family observes the three great autumnal feasts of the Church. As Teresa Mulqueen lies dying, her family gather round her and beneath this drama another, no less poignant, unfolds. Unmarried daughter Agnes awaits the return of her sister Marie-Rose and brother-in-law Vincent. She adores her sister, but secretly, pasionately, loves Vincent. And their marriage, she knows, is unhappy...Ahead lies a terrible battle between her uncompromising faith and the intensity of her love. In this delicately imagined novel, originally published in 1934, Kate O'Brien lays bare the struggles between personal need and the Catholic faith with the sympathy and insight which is the hallmark of her craft.

AN AWARD-WINNING AND REMARKABLE IRISH NOVELIST'A fuller appreciation of modern literature and a greater understanding of twentieth century Ireland' IRISH TIMESThis distinctly personal elegy was written during the early days of the Spanish Civil War by a writer whose future was indelibly marked by a year of travelling in a unique and changing country. A series of reminiscences, impressions and vivid insights, Kate O'Brien's thoughtful journey offers something unique at every stage, and captures perfectly the spirit of a lost place and the experience of travel and memory.

It is 1939, the last summer before the outbreak of war. French actress Angele Maury abandons a group of friends travelling through Ireland and takes herself to picturesque Drumaninch, birthplace of her dead father. She has come to make sense of her past. Self-conscious with her pale, exotic beauty, Angele braves the idiosyncratic world of the Kernahans: her enigmatic aunt Hannah, her ridiculous but loveable uncle Corney and her three cousins - Martin, charming, intense; Tom, devoted to his mother, and their bright sister Jo, who combines religious faith with a penchant for gambling. But is there some mystery surrounding the past? History threatens to repeat itself as Angele finds herself seduced by the beauty of Ireland, and by the love of two men...First published in 1943, The Last of the Summer is a perfectly structured psychological love story.

Pray for the Wanderer, usually regarded by critics as Kate O'Brien's response to the banning of Mary Lavelle in Ireland, is much more than a discourse on culture and censorship. It explores the emotional pain of an Irish writer genuinely torn between the artistic freedom of abroad and the beguiling beauty and security of home.