Incubator escapee wiki

Maeve Binchy

Article Discussion

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox writer

Anne Maeve Binchy Snell (28 May 1939<ref name="dudgeon">Born 1939 as per biography, Maeve Binchy by Piers Dudgeon, Thomas Dunne Books 2013; Template:ISBN (hardcover), pp. 4, 280, 302; Template:ISBN (ebook)</ref> – 30 July 2012) was an Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, columnist, and speaker. Her novels were characterised by a sympathetic and often humorous portrayal of small-town life in Ireland, and surprise endings.<ref name="Guardian">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="EB">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Her novels, which were translated into 37 languages, sold more than 40 million copies worldwide. Her death at age 73, announced by Vincent Browne on Irish television late on 30 July 2012, was mourned as the death of one of Ireland's best-loved and most recognisable writers.<ref name=bbc_death /><ref name=irish_times_death /><ref name=rte_death /><ref name=journal_death />

She appeared in the US market, featuring on The New York Times Best Seller list and in Oprah's Book Club.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Recognised for her "total absence of malice"<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and generosity to other writers, she finished third in a 2000 poll for World Book Day, ahead of Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and Stephen King.<ref name=bbc_death /><ref name=award_relief_anxious />

BiographyEdit

OverviewEdit

Early life and familyEdit

Anne Maeve Binchy<ref name="dudgeon"/> was born on 28 May 1939<ref name="dudgeon"/> in Dalkey, Dublin, the oldest of the four children of William and Maureen (née Blackmore) Binchy. Her siblings include one brother, William Binchy, Regius Professor of Laws at Trinity College Dublin, and two sisters: Irene "Renie" (who predeceased Binchy), and Joan, Mrs. Ryan.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Her uncle was the historian D. A. Binchy (1899–1989). Educated at St Anne's (then located at No 35 Clarinda Park East), Dún Laoghaire, and later at Holy Child Killiney,<ref name="Maeve Binchy">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> she went on to study at University College Dublin (where she earned a bachelor's degree in history).<ref name="Guardian"/><ref name="EB"/><ref name="Fox, Margalit">Template:Cite news</ref> She worked as a teacher<ref name="Guardian"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> of French, Latin, and history at various girls' schools,<ref name="Maeve Binchy"/><ref name="Fox, Margalit"/><ref name="Schudel, Matt">Template:Cite news</ref> then as a journalist at The Irish Times,<ref name="Guardian"/> and later became a writer of novels, short stories, and dramatic works.<ref name="Maeve Binchy Filmography">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="rte.ie">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Anne-Marie Casey">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1968, her mother died of cancer at age 57. After Binchy's father died in 1971, she sold the family house and moved to a bedsit in Dublin.<ref name="Tel o">Template:Cite news</ref>

Israel/FaithEdit

Her parents were Catholics, and Binchy attended a convent school. However, a trip to Israel profoundly affected both her career and her faith. She later said to Vulture:

In 1963, I worked in a Jewish school in Dublin, teaching French with an Irish accent to kids, primarily Lithuanians. The parents there gave me a trip to Israel as a present. I had no money, so I went and worked in a kibbutz – plucking chickens, picking oranges. My parents were very nervous; here I was going out to the Middle East by myself. I wrote to them regularly, telling them about the kibbutz. My father and mother sent my letters to a newspaper, which published them. So I thought, It's not so hard to be a writer. Just write a letter home. After that, I started writing other travel articles.<ref name="Maeve Binchy Filmography"/><ref name="Ebiri, Bilge">Template:Cite news</ref>

One Sunday, attempting to locate where the Last Supper is supposed to have occurred, she climbed a mountainside to a cavern guarded by a Brooklyn-born Israeli soldier. She wept with despair. The soldier asked, "What'ya expect, ma'am – a Renaissance table set for 13?" She replied, "Yes! That's just what I did expect". This experience caused her to renounce her Catholic faith, and eventually become agnostic.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

MarriageEdit

Binchy, described as "six feet tall, rather stout, and garrulous",<ref name="Schudel, Matt"/> although she actually grew to 6'1",<ref name="dudgeon"/> said in an interview with Gay Byrne of The Late Late Show that, growing up in Dalkey, she never felt herself to be attractive; "as a plump girl I didn't start on an even footing to everyone else".<ref name="Lynch, Donal">Template:Cite news</ref> After her mother's death, she expected to lead a life of spinsterhood, saying "I expected I would live at home, as I always did." She continued, "I felt very lonely, the others all had a love waiting for them and I didn't."<ref name="Lynch, Donal"/>

However, when recording a piece for Woman's Hour in London she met children's author Gordon Snell, then a freelance producer with the BBC.<ref name="Lynch, Donal"/> Their friendship blossomed into a cross-border romance, with her in Ireland and him in London, until she eventually secured a job in London through The Irish Times.<ref name="Lynch, Donal"/> She and Snell married in 1977 and, after living in London for a time, moved to Ireland. They lived together in Dalkey, not far from where she had grown up, until Binchy's death.<ref name="official"/> She described her husband as a "writer, a man I loved and he loved me and we got married and it was great and is still great. He believed I could do anything, just as my parents had believed all those years ago, and I started to write fiction and that took off fine. And he loved Ireland, and the fax was invented so we writers could live anywhere we liked, instead of living in London near publishers.<ref name=irish_times_death/>

Letter to the presidentEdit

Files in Ireland's National Archives, released to the public in 2006, feature a request from Maeve Binchy to President Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh asking if he could "receive" her. She wrote, "I know you are extremely busy but I often see in the paper that you 'received' so-and-so and was wondering very simply could I be received too." This request came while she was working for The Irish Times in London in 1975.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

HealthEdit

In 2002, Binchy suffered health problems related to a heart condition, which inspired her to write Heart and Soul. The book, about what Binchy terms "a heart failure clinic" in Dublin and the people involved with it, reflects many of her own experiences and observations in the hospital.<ref name="Maeve Binchy Filmography"/><ref name="Ebiri, Bilge"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Towards the end of her life, Binchy's website stated "My health isn't so good these days and I can't travel around to meet people the way I used to. But I'm always delighted to hear from readers, even if it takes me a while to reply."<ref name=bbc_death/>

DeathEdit

Binchy died on 30 July 2012. She was 73 and had suffered from various maladies, including painful osteoarthritis.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> As a result of the arthritis she had a hip operation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A month before her death she suffered a severe spinal infection (acute discitis),<ref name="dudgeon"/> and she finally succumbed to a heart attack.<ref name=bbc_death/><ref name=rte_death>Template:Cite news</ref> Gordon was by her side when she died in a Dublin hospital.<ref name=irish_times_death/> Just ahead of that evening's Tonight with Vincent Browne and TV3's late evening news, Vincent Browne and then Alan Cantwell, who respectively anchor these shows, announced to Irish television viewers that Binchy had died earlier that evening.<ref name=journal_death/>

Immediate media reports described Binchy as "beloved", "Ireland's most well-known novelist" and the "best-loved writer of her generation".<ref name=irish_times_death/><ref name=journal_death>Template:Cite news</ref> Fellow writers mourned their loss, including Ian Rankin,<ref name=guardian_death>Template:Cite news</ref> Jilly Cooper,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Anne Rice,<ref name=independent_twitter_death>Template:Cite news</ref> and Jeffrey Archer.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Politicians also paid tribute. President Michael D. Higgins stated: "Our country mourns."<ref name=independent_twitter_death/> Taoiseach Enda Kenny said, "Today we have lost a national treasure."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Minister of State at the Department of Health Kathleen Lynch, appearing as a guest on Tonight with Vincent Browne, said Binchy was, for her [Lynch's] money, as worthy an Irish writer as James Joyce or Oscar Wilde, and praised her for selling so many more books than they managed.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In the days after her death, tributes were published from such writers as John Banville,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Roddy Doyle,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Colm Tóibín.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Banville contrasted Binchy with Gore Vidal, who died the day after her, observing that Vidal "used to say that it was not enough for him to succeed, but others must fail. Maeve wanted everyone to be a success." Numerous tributes appeared in publications on both sides of the Atlantic, including The Guardian and CBC News.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Shortly before her death, Binchy told The Irish Times: "I don't have any regrets about any roads I didn't take. Everything went well, and I think that's been a help because I can look back, and I do get great pleasure out of looking back ... I've been very lucky and I have a happy old age with good family and friends still around."<ref name=irish_times_death>Template:Cite news</ref> Just before dying, she read her latest short story at the Dalkey Book Festival.<ref name=guardian_death/> She once said she would like to die "... on my 100th birthday, piloting Gordon and myself into the side of a mountain".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Despite being agnostic, Binchy was given a traditional Requiem Mass which took place at the Church of the Assumption, in her hometown of Dalkey. She was later cremated at Mount Jerome Cemetery and Crematorium.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

WorkEdit

JournalismEdit

The New York Times reports: Binchy's "writing career began by accident in the early 1960s, after she spent time on a kibbutz in Israel. Her father was so taken with her letters home that "he cut off the 'Dear Daddy' bits," Ms. Binchy later recounted, and sent them to an Irish newspaper, which published them."<ref name="Fox, Margalit"/> Donal Lynch observed of her first paying journalism role: the Irish Independent "was impressed enough to commission her, paying her £16, which was then a week-and-a-half's salary for her."<ref name="Lynch, Donal"/>

In 1968, Binchy joined the staff at The Irish Times, and worked there as a writer, columnist, the first Women's Page editor<ref name="Lynch, Donal"/> then the London editor,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> later reporting for the paper from London before returning to Ireland.<ref name="Fox, Margalit"/>

Binchy's first published book is a compilation of her newspaper articles titled My First Book. Published in 1970, it is now out of print. As Binchy's bio posted at Read Ireland describes: "The Dublin section of the book contains insightful case histories that prefigure her novelist's interest in character. The rest of the book is mainly humorous, and particularly droll is her account of a skiing holiday, 'I Was a Winter Sport.'"<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

LiteratureEdit

In all, Binchy published 16 novels, four short-story collections, a play, and a novella.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A 17th novel, A Week in Winter, was published posthumously.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Her literary career began with two books of short stories: Central Line (1978) and Victoria Line (1980). She published her debut novel Light a Penny Candle in 1982. In 1983, it sold for the largest sum ever paid for a first novel: £52,000. The timing was fortuitous, as Binchy and her husband were two months behind with the mortgage at the time.<ref name="Books Obituaries: Maeve Binchy">Template:Cite news</ref> However, the prolific Binchy – who joked that she could write as fast as she could talk – ultimately became one of Ireland's richest women.<ref name="Books Obituaries: Maeve Binchy"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Her first book was rejected five times. She would later describe these rejections as "a slap in the face [...] It's like if you don't go to a dance you can never be rejected but you'll never get to dance either".<ref name=bbc_death/>

Most of Binchy's stories are set in Ireland, dealing with the tensions between urban and rural life, the contrasts between England and Ireland, and the dramatic changes in Ireland between World War II and the present day. Her books have been translated into 37 languages.<ref name=bbc_death>Template:Cite news</ref>

While some of Binchy's novels are complete stories (Circle of Friends, Light a Penny Candle), many others revolve around a cast of interrelated characters (The Copper Beech, Silver Wedding, The Lilac Bus, Evening Class, and Heart and Soul). Her later novels, Evening Class, Scarlet Feather, Quentins, and Tara Road, feature a cast of recurring characters.

Binchy announced in 2000 that she would not tour any more of her novels, but would instead be devoting her time to other activities and to her husband, Gordon Snell. Five further novels were published before her death: Quentins (2002), Nights of Rain and Stars (2004), Whitethorn Woods (2006), Heart and Soul (2008), and Minding Frankie (2010).<ref name="official" /> Her final novel, A Week in Winter, was published posthumously in 2012.<ref name="Fox, Margalit"/><ref name=LAT>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2014 a collection of 36 unpublished short stories that she had written over a period of decades was published under the title Chestnut Street.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Binchy wrote several dramas specifically for radio and the silver screen. Additionally, several of her novels and short stories were adapted for radio, film, and television.<ref name="Maeve Binchy Filmography"/><ref name="rte.ie"/><ref name="Anne-Marie Casey"/> (See List of Works: Films, radio and television.)

Public appearancesEdit

Binchy appeared on The Late Late Show on Saturday 20 March (based on chronology, this would have been 1982) in connection with the publication of the Dublin 4 short story collection.<ref name=Maeve-letter-earnings/> "Then the conversation broadened and Gay Byrne asked about some aspects of my work, the royal weddings", Binchy later recalled in a letter she sent to the programme.<ref name=Maeve-letter-earnings/> "I said how much I had liked Charles's wedding and hated Anne's – about covering the election in Ireland and how I had been one of the very few journalists watching FitzGerald and Haughey on the night of the Great Debate..."<ref name=Maeve-letter-earnings/>

Following the publication of Light a Penny Candle, the programme sought Binchy to reappear to explain her success.<ref name=Maeve-letter-earnings/> In advance of her appearance she sent Mary O'Sullivan, who was working on the programme, a letter (the same one referred to above) setting out her earnings in some detail, since Binchy thought this would be of relevance.<ref name=Maeve-letter-earnings>Template:Cite news Print edition, with original title of "Big Read: The circle of life of Circle of Friends", included "Maeve's letter explaining how she earned her new-found success", which Binchy sent to Mary O'Sullivan before an appearance on The Late Late Show on which O'Sullivan was working.</ref> She received an initial 5,000 Irish pounds for Light a Penny Candle.<ref name=Maeve-letter-earnings/> The paperback rights were sold for a British record for a first novel with a prepublication advance of £52,000 from Coronet.<ref name=Maeve-letter-earnings/> Viking Press paid Binchy $200,000 for the U.S. hardcover edition.<ref name=Maeve-letter-earnings/> The Literary Guild of America paid a further $50,000.<ref name=Maeve-letter-earnings/> The French publisher paid Binchy 50,000 francs.<ref name=Maeve-letter-earnings/> Binchy wrote to O'Sullivan, "I thought it would be better if you knew the exact figures, then you could decide what was and what was not relevant".<ref name=Maeve-letter-earnings/> O'Sullivan republished the letter in the Sunday Independent's Living supplement in 2020 but mentioned that the last page, which followed on from Binchy referring to what she intended to do with all her money, was missing.<ref name=Maeve-letter-earnings/>

In 1994, Binchy appeared on Morningside with Peter Gzowski.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1999, Binchy appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2009, she appeared on The Meaning of Life, also presented by Gay Byrne.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Binchy and her husband had a cameo appearance together in Fair City on 14 December 2011, during which the couple dined in The Hungry Pig.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Awards and honoursEdit

In 1978, Binchy won a Jacob's Award for her RTÉ play, Deeply Regretted By. A 1993 photograph of her by Richard Whitehead<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> belongs to the collection of the National Portrait Gallery<ref>National Portrait Gallery: Maeve Binchy Template:Webarchive.</ref> and a painting of her by Maeve McCarthy,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> commissioned in 2005, is on display in the National Gallery of Ireland.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1999, she received the British Book Award for Lifetime Achievement. In 2000, she received a People of the Year Award. In 2001, Scarlet Feather won the W H Smith Book Award for Fiction, defeating works by Joanna Trollope and then Booker winner Margaret Atwood, amongst other contenders.<ref name=award_relief_anxious>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2007, she received the Irish PEN Award, joining writers including John B. Keane, Brian Friel, Edna O'Brien, William Trevor, John McGahern and Seamus Heaney.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2010, she received a lifetime achievement award from the Irish Book Awards.<ref name=bbc_death/> In 2012, she received an Irish Book Award in the "Irish Popular Fiction Book" category for A Week in Winter.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

PosthumousEdit

There were posthumous proposals to name a new Liffey crossing "Binchy Bridge" in memory of the writer.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Ultimately the bridge was named for trade unionist Rosie Hackett.

In September 2012, a new garden behind the Dalkey Library in County Dublin was dedicated in memory of Binchy.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2014, University College Dublin announced the first annual Maeve Binchy Travel Award. The €4000 award will help student winners "pursue a novel travel trip to enhance their writing skills".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

List of worksEdit

PublicationsEdit

Binchy published novels, non-fiction, a play and several short story collections. Two collections of short stories, Chestnut Street (2014) and A Few of the Girls (2015), were released after her death.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Novels<ref name="official">{{#invoke
citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Short story collections<ref name="official"/>
Novellas
  • The Builders (2002)<ref name="official"/>
  • Star Sullivan (2006)<ref name="official"/>
  • Full House (2012)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Non-fiction
Plays
Other works

Films, radio, and televisionEdit

Binchy wrote several dramas specifically for radio and the silver screen. Additionally, several of her novels and short stories were adapted for radio, film, and television.<ref name="Maeve Binchy Filmography"/><ref name="rte.ie"/><ref name="Anne-Marie Casey"/>

FilmsEdit

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In addition, the plot of the Danish film Italian for Beginners (2000) was taken in part from Binchy's novel Evening Class without credit or payment to her; the production company later settled with Binchy for a payment of an undisclosed amount.

RadioEdit

Since 1968, Binchy was a "frequent and hugely popular contributor to RTÉ Radio".<ref name="rte.ie"/> A press release dated 31 July 2012 and posted in that organisation's online Press Centre reads:

"RTÉ Radio 1 provided the platform for Maeve's many forays into the world of drama. In 2005 RTÉ 2fm DJ Gerry Ryan was among the cast of Surprise, a four-part radio drama written by Maeve. Other radio drama work included the award-winning Infancy and Tia Maria, starring Oscar winner Kathy Bates. Maeve was a driving force behind the RTÉ Radio 1 Human Rights Drama Seasons, while her story The Games Room was adapted for RTÉ Radio 1 by Anne-Marie Casey in 2009."<ref name="rte.ie"/>

TelevisionEdit

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Echoes (1988) – four-part television miniseries on Channel 4, based on Binchy's second novel, Echoes (published in 1985).<ref name="Maeve Binchy Filmography"/>
  • The Lilac Bus (1990) – 90-minute TV movie, starring Stephanie Beacham, Emmet Bergin, and Brendan Conroy, based on Binchy's collection of interrelated short stories titled The Lilac Bus (first published in 1984)<ref name="Books Obituaries: Maeve Binchy"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Maeve Binchy's Anner House (2007) – 90-minute TV movie, filmed in Cape Town, that aired on RTÉ Television. The film stars Liam Cunningham, Flora Montgomery, and Conor Mullen, and is based on a short story by Binchy. The screenplay was written by Anne-Marie Casey.<ref name="Maeve Binchy's Anner House"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist In season 3 episode 7 of Ballykissangel, one road worker tosses a book to another, saying, "The latest Maeve Binchy!"

Further readingEdit

External linksEdit

Template:Sister project 

 | name/{{#if:{{#invoke:ustring|match|1=82759|2=^nm}}
   | Template:Trim/
   | nm0082759/
   }}
 | {{#if: {{#property:P345}}
   | name/Template:First word/
   | find?q=%7B%7B%23if%3A+%0A++++++%7C+%7B%7B%7Bname%7D%7D%7D%0A++++++%7C+%5B%5B%3ATemplate%3APAGENAMEBASE%5D%5D%0A++++++%7D%7D&s=nm
   }}
 }}{{#if: 82759  {{#property:P345}} | {{#switch: 
 | award | awards = awards Awards for | biography | bio = bio Biography for
 }}}} {{#if: 
 | {{{name}}}
 | Template:PAGENAMEBASE
 }}] at IMDb{{#if: 82759{{#property:P345}}
 | Template:EditAtWikidata
 | Template:Main other

}}{{#switch:{{#invoke:string2|matchAny|^nm.........|^nm.......|nm|.........|source=82759|plain=false}} 

 | 1 | 3 =  Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning
 | 4 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning

}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:IMDb name with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|showblankpositional=1| 1 | 2 | id | name | section }}

Template:Maeve Binchy

Template:Authority control

Retrieved from "https://zalansite.site/mediawiki/index.php?title=Maeve_Binchy&oldid=136342"