Maeve Binchy

{{Infobox writer

| name = Maeve Binchy

| image = binchy33.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Binchy in 2006

| birth_name = Anne Maeve Binchy

| birth_date = {{birth date|1939|5|28|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Dublin, Ireland

| death_date = {{death date and age|2012|7|30|1939|5|28|df=yes}}

| death_place = Dublin, Ireland

| occupation = Writer

| language = English

| alma_mater = University College Dublin

| period = 1978–2012

| genre = {{cslist|Fiction|play|short story|travel writing}}

| movement = Post-war Irish fiction

| notableworks = {{cslist|Deeply Regretted By...|Circle of Friends|Tara Road|Scarlet Feather}}

| spouse = {{marriage|Gordon Snell|1977}}

| relatives = {{ubl|William Binchy (brother)||D. A. Binchy (uncle)}}

| awards = {{ubli|{{awards|Jacob's Award|1978}}|{{awards|British Book Award for Lifetime Achievement|1999}}|{{awards|People of the Year Award|2000}}|{{awards|W H Smith Book Award for Fiction|2001}}|{{awards|Irish PEN/AT Cross Award|2007}}|{{awards|Irish Book Award for Lifetime Achievement|2010}}}}

}}

Anne Maeve Binchy Snell (28 May 1939Born 1939 as per biography, Maeve Binchy by Piers Dudgeon, Thomas Dunne Books 2013; {{ISBN|978-1-250-04714-4}} (hardcover), pp. 4, 280, 302; {{ISBN|978-1-4668-4750-7}} (ebook) – 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.{{cite news|url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/authors/author/0,,-21,00.html|title=Maeve Binchy|work=Guardian Unlimited Books|date=22 July 2008|access-date=14 April 2007|archive-date=3 June 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080603105734/http://books.guardian.co.uk/authors/author/0,,-21,00.html|url-status=live}}{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9095218/Maeve-Binchy|title=Maeve Binchy|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=13 April 2007|archive-date=10 February 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080210075257/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9095218/Maeve-Binchy|url-status=live}} 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.

She appeared in the US market, featuring on The New York Times Best Seller list and in Oprah's Book Club.{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/maeve-binchy-bestselling-irish-author-dies-at-72-1.1282276|title=Maeve Binchy, bestselling Irish author, dies|work=CBC News|date=31 July 2012|access-date=31 July 2012|archive-date=31 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120731120208/http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/07/31/obit-maeve-binchy.html|url-status=live}} Recognised for her "total absence of malice"{{cite news|first=Roy|last=Greenslade|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2012/jul/31/maevebinchy-irish-times|title=Maeve Binchy, a journalist whose head was full of stories|work=The Guardian|date=31 July 2012|access-date=31 July 2012|archive-date=5 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005050910/http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2012/jul/31/maevebinchy-irish-times|url-status=live}} 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.

Biography

=Overview=

==Early life and family==

Anne Maeve Binchy was born on 28 May 1939 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.{{cite news|author=McGarry, Patsy|access-date=4 August 2012|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=4 August 2012|title=Standing room only at author's simple but sad farewell with 'no eulogy or extras', as requested|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0804/1224321445712.html|archive-date=5 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120805101627/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0804/1224321445712.html|url-status=live}} 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,{{cite web|work=Read Ireland|title=Maeve Binchy|access-date=4 August 2012|url=http://www.readireland.ie/aotm/Binchy.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130217192356/http://www.readireland.ie/aotm/Binchy.html|archive-date=17 February 2013}} she went on to study at University College Dublin (where she earned a bachelor's degree in history).{{cite news|journal=The New York Times|access-date=4 August 2012|author=Fox, Margalit|date=31 July 2012|title=Books: Maeve Binchy, Writer Who Evoked Ireland, Dies at 72|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/01/books/maeve-binchy-writer-who-evoked-ireland-dies-at-72.html|archive-date=4 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120804005305/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/01/books/maeve-binchy-writer-who-evoked-ireland-dies-at-72.html|url-status=live}} She worked as a teacher{{cite web|url=http://www.bookreporter.com/authors/au-binchy-maeve.asp|title=An interview with Jana Siciliano|work=BookReporter.com|access-date=14 April 2007|archive-date=8 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608155024/http://www.bookreporter.com/authors/au-binchy-maeve.asp|url-status=live}} of French, Latin, and history at various girls' schools,{{cite news|url=http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/03/3741665/maeve-binchy-acclaimed-irish-novelist.html|journal=Kansas City Star|title=Maeve Binchy, acclaimed Irish novelist, dies at 72 (The author wrote solely about Ireland but found devotion worldwide)|author=Schudel, Matt|access-date=4 August 2012|date=3 August 2012|archive-date=8 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120808161154/http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/03/3741665/maeve-binchy-acclaimed-irish-novelist.html|url-status=live}} then as a journalist at The Irish Times, and later became a writer of novels, short stories, and dramatic works.{{cite news|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/person/288676/Maeve-Binchy/filmography|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130130145006/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/288676/Maeve-Binchy/filmography|url-status=dead|archive-date=30 January 2013|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=The New York Times|title=Maeve Binchy Filmography|access-date=4 August 2012}}{{cite journal|title=RTÉ Saddened by the Death of Best-Selling Writer, Maeve Binchy|date=31 July 2012|url=http://www.rte.ie/about/en/press-office/press-releases/2012/0808/332645-rte-saddened-by-the-death-of-best-selling-writer-maeve-binchy/|journal=About RTÉ: RTÉ Press Centre|access-date=12 August 2015|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924092637/http://www.rte.ie/about/en/press-office/press-releases/2012/0808/332645-rte-saddened-by-the-death-of-best-selling-writer-maeve-binchy/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|access-date=4 August 2012|title=Anne-Marie Casey|work=Gate Theater|url=http://www.gatetheatre.ie/section/TheGateLabAdaptingaClassic|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140109000221/http://www.gatetheatre.ie/section/TheGateLabAdaptingaClassic|archive-date=9 January 2014}}

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.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/books-obituaries/9440604/Maeve-Binchy.html|title=Maeve Binchy|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=31 July 2012|access-date=31 July 2012|archive-date=31 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120731131834/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/books-obituaries/9440604/Maeve-Binchy.html|url-status=live}}

==Israel/Faith==

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.{{cite news|journal=Vulture|date=14 November 2008|title=Maeve Binchy on 'The Hard Core' and Her Uplifting Next Novel About Heart Failure|author=Ebiri, Bilge|url=http://www.vulture.com/2008/11/maeve_binchy.html|access-date=5 August 2012|archive-date=19 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219145737/http://www.vulture.com/2008/11/maeve_binchy.html|url-status=live}}

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.{{cite news|first=Mary|last=Kenny|author-link=Mary Kenny|url=http://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/mary-kenny-maeve-binchy-shunned-the-dark-side-3187635.html|title=Maeve Binchy shunned the dark side|newspaper=Irish Independent|date=1 August 2012|access-date=1 August 2012|archive-date=3 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120803002053/http://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/mary-kenny-maeve-binchy-shunned-the-dark-side-3187635.html|url-status=live}}

==Marriage==

Binchy, described as "six feet tall, rather stout, and garrulous", although she actually grew to 6'1", 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".{{cite news|author=Lynch, Donal|date=5 August 2012|title=Donal Lynch: Maeve stirred up love with a long spoon . . . (She was held in great affection, but even in Ireland the compliments could be backhanded)|url=http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/donal-lynch-maeve-stirred-up-love-with-a-long-spoon-3189914.html|newspaper=Irish Independent|access-date=5 August 2012|archive-date=7 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120807084226/http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/donal-lynch-maeve-stirred-up-love-with-a-long-spoon-3189914.html|url-status=live}} 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."

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. 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. 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. 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.

==Letter to the president==

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.{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2006/1230/1167401848160.html?via=rel|title=Maeve Binchy sought meeting with President|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=30 December 2006|access-date=30 December 2006|archive-date=31 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120731092241/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2006/1230/1167401848160.html?via=rel|url-status=live}}

=Health=

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.{{cite news|access-date=4 August 2012|title=Maeve Binchy Dead: Bestselling Irish Author Dies|journal=Huffington Post|author=Barr, Robert|date=30 July 2012|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/31/maeve-binchy-dead-irish-author-obituary_n_1721938.html|archive-date=3 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120803031914/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/31/maeve-binchy-dead-irish-author-obituary_n_1721938.html|url-status=live}} 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."

Death

Binchy died on 30 July 2012. She was 73 and had suffered from various maladies, including painful osteoarthritis.{{cite news|url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/republic-of-ireland/author-maeve-binchy-dies-at-72-16191773.html|title=Author Maeve Binchy dies|newspaper=The Belfast Telegraph|date=31 July 2012|access-date=31 July 2012|archive-date=22 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210922233929/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/republic-of-ireland/article16191773.ece|url-status=live}} As a result of the arthritis she had a hip operation.{{cite news|first=Anne|last=McHardy|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jul/31/maeve-binchy?intcmp=239|title=Maeve Binchy obituary|newspaper=The Guardian|date=31 July 2012|access-date=31 July 2012|quote=Twenty years later, I was writing about arthritis and Maeve was an obvious contact. It was before her hip operation and her pain was often debilitating.|archive-date=26 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226023815/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jul/31/maeve-binchy?intcmp=239|url-status=live}} A month before her death she suffered a severe spinal infection (acute discitis), and she finally succumbed to a heart attack.{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0730/writer-maeve-binchy-dies-aged-72.html |title=Writer Maeve Binchy dies aged 72 |work=RTÉ News |date=30 July 2012 |access-date=30 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120801041515/http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0730/writer-maeve-binchy-dies-aged-72.html |archive-date= 1 August 2012 }} Gordon was by her side when she died in a Dublin hospital. 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.

Immediate media reports described Binchy as "beloved", "Ireland's most well-known novelist" and the "best-loved writer of her generation".{{cite news|url=http://www.thejournal.ie/beloved-irish-writer-maeve-binchy-has-died-aged-72-538914-Jul2012|title=Beloved Irish writer Maeve Binchy has died; Sad news this evening as the death of Ireland's most well-known novelist has passed away after a short illness|work=The Journal|date=30 July 2012|access-date=30 July 2012|archive-date=30 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120730230123/http://www.thejournal.ie/beloved-irish-writer-maeve-binchy-has-died-aged-72-538914-Jul2012/|url-status=live}} Fellow writers mourned their loss, including Ian Rankin,{{cite news|first=Conal|last=Urquhart|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jul/31/maeve-binchy-irish-writer-dies?newsfeed=true|title=Maeve Binchy, bestselling Irish writer, dies|work=The Guardian|date=31 July 2012|access-date=31 July 2012|archive-date=24 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140224012916/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jul/31/maeve-binchy-irish-writer-dies?newsfeed=true|url-status=live}} Jilly Cooper,{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9741000/9741714.stm|title=Maeve Binchy tribute from writer Jilly Cooper|work=BBC|date=31 July 2012|access-date=31 July 2012|archive-date=1 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120801155149/http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9741000/9741714.stm|url-status=live}} Anne Rice,{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/independent-woman/celebrity-news-gossip/twitter-pays-tribute-to-maeve-binchy-3186350.html|title=Twitter pays tribute to Maeve Binchy|work=Irish Independent|date=31 July 2012|access-date=31 July 2012|archive-date=3 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120803022720/http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/independent-woman/celebrity-news-gossip/twitter-pays-tribute-to-maeve-binchy-3186350.html|url-status=live}} and Jeffrey Archer.{{cite news|first1=Lyndsey|last1=Telford|first2=Sarah|last2=Stack|url=http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/independent-woman/celebrity-news-gossip/maeve-binchy-warm-tributes-paid-to-beloved-dalkey-author-on-her-death-after-illness-3186317.html|title=Maeve Binchy: Warm tributes paid to beloved Dalkey author on her death after illness|work=Irish Independent|date=31 July 2012|access-date=31 July 2012|archive-date=1 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120801141503/http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/independent-woman/celebrity-news-gossip/maeve-binchy-warm-tributes-paid-to-beloved-dalkey-author-on-her-death-after-illness-3186317.html|url-status=live}} Politicians also paid tribute. President Michael D. Higgins stated: "Our country mourns." Taoiseach Enda Kenny said, "Today we have lost a national treasure."{{cite news|first=Patsy|last=McGarry|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0731/breaking6.html|title=Tributes paid to 'national treasure' Maeve Binchy|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=31 July 2012|access-date=31 July 2012|archive-date=31 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120731072456/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0731/breaking6.html|url-status=live}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.tv3.ie/shows.php?request=tonightwithvincentbrowne |title=30 July 2012 episode |work=Tonight with Vincent Browne |publisher=TV3 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120728092156/http://www.tv3.ie/shows.php?request=tonightwithvincentbrowne |archive-date=28 July 2012 }}

In the days after her death, tributes were published from such writers as John Banville,{{cite news|first=John|last=Banville|author-link=John Banville|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0801/1224321236254.html|title=Her prose had an exuberance, an effervescence, that was visible in her very typing|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=1 August 2012|access-date=1 August 2012|archive-date=2 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120802035339/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0801/1224321236254.html|url-status=live}} Roddy Doyle,{{cite news|first=Roddy|last=Doyle|author-link=Roddy Doyle|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0801/1224321236220.html|title=Whenever she had her hands on a new Maeve Binchy buke . . .|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=1 August 2012|access-date=1 August 2012|archive-date=2 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120802035416/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0801/1224321236220.html|url-status=live}} and Colm Tóibín.{{cite news|first=Colm|last=Tóibín|author-link=Colm Tóibín|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0801/1224321236240.html|title=She brought self-deprecation to a fine art, but there was always irony behind it|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=1 August 2012|access-date=1 August 2012|archive-date=2 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120802035438/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0801/1224321236240.html|url-status=live}} 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.{{cite news|first=Steven|last=Carroll|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0801/1224321236261.html?via=rel|title=International tributes roll in for writer for whom 'life was all about laughter'|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=1 August 2012|access-date=1 August 2012|archive-date=1 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120801094343/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0801/1224321236261.html?via=rel|url-status=live}}{{cite news|first=Alison|last=Flood|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2012/jul/31/maeve-binchy-death-twitter-tributes?intcmp=239|title=Maeve Binchy: a big-hearted guide to friendship, love and loss|work=The Guardian|date=31 July 2012|access-date=31 July 2012|archive-date=6 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150406092228/http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2012/jul/31/maeve-binchy-death-twitter-tributes?intcmp=239|url-status=live}}{{cite news|first=Felicity|last=Hayes-McCoy|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jul/31/maeve-binchy-miss-you?intcmp=239|title=Maeve Binchy, we'll miss you: Millions of readers around the world will remember Maeve as a great writer, but for me she was the best of teachers too|work=The Guardian|date=31 July 2012|access-date=31 July 2012|archive-date=6 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150406112933/http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jul/31/maeve-binchy-miss-you?intcmp=239|url-status=live}}{{cite news|first=Susan|last=Noakes|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/the-buzz/2012/07/an-appreciation-for-maeve-binchy-1940---2012.html|title=Maeve Binchy: An appreciation|work=CBC News|date=31 July 2012|access-date=31 July 2012|archive-date=31 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120731214633/http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/the-buzz/2012/07/an-appreciation-for-maeve-binchy-1940---2012.html|url-status=live}}

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."{{cite news|first=Patsy|last=McGarry|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2012/0731/1224321158054.html|title=Maeve Binchy, best-loved writer of her generation, dies aged 72|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=31 July 2012|access-date=31 July 2012|archive-date=31 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120731033946/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2012/0731/1224321158054.html|url-status=live}} Just before dying, she read her latest short story at the Dalkey Book Festival. She once said she would like to die "... on my 100th birthday, piloting Gordon and myself into the side of a mountain".{{cite news|first=Rosanna|last=Greenstreet|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/1995/jul/22/fiction.maevebinchy?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487|title=The Questionnaire: Maeve Binchy|work=The Guardian|date=22 July 1995|access-date=31 July 2012|archive-date=26 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226013521/http://www.theguardian.com/books/1995/jul/22/fiction.maevebinchy?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487|url-status=live}}

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.{{cite news|first=Robert|last=Barr|url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gPnzatNWEhvbEMZBC_myv09VCVxg?docId=27f0c88a4d4f47f58cba8c308f29d73c|title=Popular Irish author Maeve Binchy dies at 72|work=AP}}{{dead link|date=June 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0803/breaking5.html|title=Simple send-off for much-loved Binchy|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=3 August 2012|access-date=3 August 2012|archive-date=3 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120803094734/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0803/breaking5.html|url-status=live}}

Work

=Journalism=

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." 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."

In 1968, Binchy joined the staff at The Irish Times, and worked there as a writer, columnist, the first Women's Page editor then the London editor,{{cite news|url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/obituary-maeve-binchy-witty-observant-and-a-largerthanlife-16192449.html|access-date=4 August 2012|journal=Belfast Telegraph|title=Obituary: Maeve Binchy – witty, observant, and larger-than-life|date=2 August 2012|archive-date=4 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120804204234/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/obituary-maeve-binchy-witty-observant-and-a-largerthanlife-16192449.html|url-status=live}} later reporting for the paper from London before returning to Ireland.

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.'"{{cite web|work=Read Ireland|title=Maeve Binchy|url=http://www.readireland.ie/aotm/Binchy.html|access-date=4 August 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130217192356/http://www.readireland.ie/aotm/Binchy.html|archive-date=17 February 2013}}{{cite book|author=Binchy, Maeve|publisher=Dublin: The Irish Times, Ltd.|isbn=9780950341835|title=My First Book|year=1970}}

=Literature=

In all, Binchy published 16 novels, four short-story collections, a play, and a novella.{{cite news |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/popular-irish-author-maeve-binchy-dies-72-article-1.1125516?pgno=1 |title=Popular Irish author Maeve Binchy dies at 72 |agency=Associated Press |date=31 July 2012 |access-date=18 October 2012 |newspaper=New York Daily News |archive-date=4 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120804061905/http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/popular-irish-author-maeve-binchy-dies-72-article-1.1125516?pgno=1 |url-status=live }} A 17th novel, A Week in Winter, was published posthumously.{{cite web|url=http://books.usatoday.com/book/spend-a-comforting-'week-in-winter-with-maeve-binchy/r850376|title=Spend a comforting 'Week in Winter' with Maeve Binchy|first=Mary|last=Cadden|date=13 February 2013|access-date=30 August 2015|work=USA Today|archive-date=16 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150716011156/http://books.usatoday.com/book/spend-a-comforting-%27week-in-winter-with-maeve-binchy/r850376|url-status=live}} 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.{{cite news|journal=The Telegraph|title=Books Obituaries: Maeve Binchy|access-date=4 August 2012|date=31 July 2012|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/books-obituaries/9440604/Maeve-Binchy.html|archive-date=4 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120804062015/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/books-obituaries/9440604/Maeve-Binchy.html|url-status=live}} However, the prolific Binchy – who joked that she could write as fast as she could talk – ultimately became one of Ireland's richest women.{{cite news |journal=Los Angeles Times |access-date=4 August 2012 |title=Maeve Binchy dies; author of popular Irish literature was 72 (Maeve Binchy, a former teacher and journalist, didn't publish her first novel until the year she turned 42. She soon became a best-selling author) |date=1 August 2012 |author=Times staff and wire reports |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-maeve-binchy-20120801-story.html |archive-date=3 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120803232009/http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/01/local/la-me-maeve-binchy-20120801 |url-status=live }}

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".

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.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19057922|title=Author Maeve Binchy dies aged 72|work=BBC News|date=31 July 2012|access-date=31 July 2012|archive-date=31 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120731042602/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19057922|url-status=live}}

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). Her final novel, A Week in Winter, was published posthumously in 2012.{{cite news|journal=Los Angeles Times|access-date=4 August 2012|title=Maeve Binchy dies; author of popular Irish literature was 72|date=1 August 2012|author=Times staff and wire reports|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-maeve-binchy-20120801-story.html|archive-date=3 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120803232009/http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/01/local/la-me-maeve-binchy-20120801|url-status=live}} 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2014/04/26/302901315/for-binchy-fans-one-last-trip-down-chestnut-street|title=For Binchy Fans, One Last Trip Down 'Chestnut Street'|first=Bobbi|last=Dumas|date=26 April 2014|access-date=1 September 2014|work=National Public Radio|archive-date=16 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140716011451/http://www.npr.org/2014/04/26/302901315/for-binchy-fans-one-last-trip-down-chestnut-street|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/maeve-binchy-chestnut-street-paved-with-gems-1.1771079|title=Maeve Binchy: Chestnut Street paved with gems|first=Anna|last=Carey|date=29 April 2014|access-date=1 September 2014|newspaper=The Irish Times|archive-date=3 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903102004/http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/maeve-binchy-chestnut-street-paved-with-gems-1.1771079|url-status=live}}

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. (See List of Works: Films, radio and television.)

Public appearances

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. "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. "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..."

Following the publication of Light a Penny Candle, the programme sought Binchy to reappear to explain her success. 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.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/style/celebrity/it-paved-the-way-for-normal-people-the-enduring-appeal-of-maeve-binchys-circle-of-friends-39360191.html|title='It paved the way for Normal People' – The enduring appeal of Maeve Binchy's Circle of Friends|first=Emer|last=McLysaght|newspaper=Sunday Independent (Living)|date=12 July 2020|page=3|access-date=22 August 2020|archive-date=8 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808061441/https://www.independent.ie/style/celebrity/it-paved-the-way-for-normal-people-the-enduring-appeal-of-maeve-binchys-circle-of-friends-39360191.html|url-status=live}} 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. She received an initial 5,000 Irish pounds for Light a Penny Candle. The paperback rights were sold for a British record for a first novel with a prepublication advance of £52,000 from Coronet. Viking Press paid Binchy $200,000 for the U.S. hardcover edition. The Literary Guild of America paid a further $50,000. The French publisher paid Binchy 50,000 francs. 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". 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.

In 1994, Binchy appeared on Morningside with Peter Gzowski.{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/books/2012/07/from-the-archives-maeve-binchy-in-conversation-with-petyer-gzowski.html|title=From the archives: Maeve Binchy in conversation with Peter Gzowski|work=CBC News|access-date=15 October 2013|archive-date=9 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140109000549/http://www.cbc.ca/books/2012/07/from-the-archives-maeve-binchy-in-conversation-with-petyer-gzowski.html|url-status=live}}

In 1999, Binchy appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show.{{cite news|first=Don|last=Mackay|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/maeve-binchy-death-author-passes-1192424|title='A larger-than-life recorder of human foibles and wonderment': Author Maeve Binchy dies, aged 72|work=The Mirror|date=31 July 2012|access-date=31 July 2012|archive-date=31 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120731010045/http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/maeve-binchy-death-author-passes-1192424|url-status=live}} In 2009, she appeared on The Meaning of Life, also presented by Gay Byrne.{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/tv/meaningoflife|title=The Meaning of Life with Gay Byrne|work=RTÉ|access-date=2 June 2009|date=15 May 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090615053416/http://www.rte.ie/tv/meaningoflife/|archive-date=15 June 2009}} 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.{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/ten/2011/1214/faircity.html|title=Maeve Binchy visits Fair City tonight|work=Raidió Teilifís Éireann|date=14 December 2011|access-date=14 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114172009/http://www.rte.ie/ten/2011/1214/faircity.html|archive-date=14 January 2012}}

Awards and honours

In 1978, Binchy won a Jacob's Award for her RTÉ play, Deeply Regretted By. A 1993 photograph of her by Richard Whitehead{{cite web |url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw12548/Maeve-Binchy |access-date=5 February 2012 |title=National Portrait Gallery: Collections: Maeve Binchy |website=NPG.org.uk |year=1993 |archive-date=21 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120821104338/http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw12548/Maeve-Binchy |url-status=live }} belongs to the collection of the National Portrait Gallery[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait.php?LinkID=mp10640&rNo=0&role=sit National Portrait Gallery: Maeve Binchy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606183731/http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait.php?LinkID=mp10640&rNo=0&role=sit |date=6 June 2011 }}. and a painting of her by Maeve McCarthy,{{cite web| url=http://www.molesworthgallery.com/artists/McCarthy%20artist%20page.html| title=The Molesworth Gallery: Artists: Maeve McCarthy ARHA| access-date=5 February 2012| work=MolesworthGallery.com| archive-date=24 October 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024225209/http://www.molesworthgallery.com/artists/McCarthy%20artist%20page.html| url-status=live}} commissioned in 2005, is on display in the National Gallery of Ireland.{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalgallery.ie/html/press64.html|title=National Gallery unveils portrait of Maeve Binchy|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090706025635/http://www.nationalgallery.ie/html/press64.html |archive-date=6 July 2009 |website=National Gallery of Ireland|date=October 2005}}

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.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1297873.stm|title=Award relief for 'anxious' Binchy|work=BBC News|date=27 April 2001|access-date=27 April 2001|archive-date=4 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120804050355/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1297873.stm|url-status=live}}

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.{{cite news|url=http://www.irishpen.com/award_previous.htm|title=Previous Winners of the Irish PEN / AT Cross Award for Literature|work=Irish Pen|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509171723/http://www.irishpen.com/award_previous.htm|archive-date=9 May 2012}}{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/unsorted/features/people-another-gong-for-maeves-mantelpiece-59690.html|title=People: Another gong for Maeve's mantelpiece|newspaper=Irish Independent|date=16 January 2007|access-date=16 January 2007|archive-date=28 February 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228195649/http://www.independent.ie/unsorted/features/people-another-gong-for-maeves-mantelpiece-59690.html|url-status=live}}

In 2010, she received a lifetime achievement award from the Irish Book Awards. In 2012, she received an Irish Book Award in the "Irish Popular Fiction Book" category for A Week in Winter.{{cite news|newspaper=The Irish Times|author=Rosita Boland|date=23 November 2012|access-date=23 November 2012|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/1123/1224327011713.html|title=Banville wins novel of year at awards|archive-date=20 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120152905/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/1123/1224327011713.html|url-status=live}}

=Posthumous=

There were posthumous proposals to name a new Liffey crossing "Binchy Bridge" in memory of the writer.{{cite news|first=Claire|last=Murphy|url=http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/around-town/calls-for-binchy-bridge-memorial-as-writer-is-laid-to-rest-3188949.html|title=Calls for Binchy Bridge memorial as writer is laid to rest|newspaper=Evening Herald|date=3 August 2012|access-date=3 August 2012|archive-date=7 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120807062102/http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/around-town/calls-for-binchy-bridge-memorial-as-writer-is-laid-to-rest-3188949.html|url-status=live}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0928/1224324534241.html|title=Library garden in Dalkey dedicated to Maeve Binchy|first=Patsy|last=McGarry|work=Irish Times|date=28 September 2012|access-date=18 October 2012|archive-date=30 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120930140928/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0928/1224324534241.html|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/garden-fitting-tribute-to-maeve-3243876.html|title=Garden 'fitting tribute to Maeve'|first=Laura|last=Butler|date=29 September 2012|access-date=18 October 2012|work=Irish Independent|archive-date=2 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102085531/http://www.independent.ie/national-news/garden-fitting-tribute-to-maeve-3243876.html|url-status=live}}

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".{{cite web|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/new-award-honours-maeve-binchy-s-love-of-travel-and-writing-1.1811707|title=New award honours Maeve Binchy's love of travel and writing|first=Rachel|last=Flaherty|date=28 May 2014|access-date=2 May 2018|work=Irish Times|archive-date=22 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210922233940/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/new-award-honours-maeve-binchy-s-love-of-travel-and-writing-1.1811707|url-status=live}}

List of works

=Publications=

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/book-reviews/books-an-early-present-from-maeve-34113412.html|title=Books: An early present from Maeve|first=Martina|last=Devlin|date=18 October 2015|access-date=22 October 2015|work=Irish Independent|archive-date=5 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305134054/http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/book-reviews/books-an-early-present-from-maeve-34113412.html|url-status=live}}

;Novels{{cite web|url=http://www.maevebinchy.com|title=Official Website of Maeve Binchy|access-date=4 August 2012|archive-date=19 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819115510/http://www.maevebinchy.com/|url-status=live}}

Light a Penny Candle (1982)
Echoes (1985)
Firefly Summer (1987)
Silver Wedding (1988)
Circle of Friends (1990)
The Copper Beech (1992)
The Glass Lake (1994)
Evening Class (1996)
Tara Road (1998)
Scarlet Feather (2000)
Quentins (2002)
Nights of Rain and Stars (2004)
Whitethorn Woods (2006)
Heart and Soul (2008)
Minding Frankie (2010)
A Week in Winter (2012)

;Short story collections

Central Line (1978)
Victoria Line (1980)
Dublin 4 (1981)
London Transports (1983) (London Transports and Victoria Line Central Line consist of the same stories).
The Lilac Bus (1984)
The Story Teller: A Collection of Short Stories (1990)
Dublin People (1993)
Cross Lines (1996)
This Year It Will Be Different: And Other Stories (1996)
The Return Journey (1998)
Chestnut Street (2014)
A Few of the Girls (2015)

;Novellas

The Builders (2002)
Star Sullivan (2006)
Full House (2012){{cite web|url=http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/maeve+binchy/full+house/8558993/|title=Full House|access-date=31 July 2012|archive-date=13 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120413011113/http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/maeve+binchy/full+house/8558993/|url-status=live}}

;Non-fiction

My First Book (1970). Dublin: The Irish Times, Ltd. ({{ISBN|9780950341835}})
Aches and Pains (1999)
A Time to Dance (2006)
The Maeve Binchy Writer's Club (2008)
Maeve's Times: In Her Own Words (2015)

;Plays

Deeply Regretted By... (2005){{cite news|last=Corr|first=John|journal=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date=15 November 1980|title=In the wake of her play, enjoying a few drinks and laughs|page=9-A}}
The Half Promised Land (1980)

;Other works

Finbar's Hotel (contributor)
Ladies Night at Finbar's Hotel (contributor)
Irish Girls About Town (2002) (editor with Cathy Kelly and Marian Keyes)

=Films, radio, and television=

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.

==Films==

Circle of Friends (1995 film) – Hollywood film starring Chris O'Donnell and Minnie Driver, based on Binchy's fifth novel, Circle of Friends (1990) with a radical change of ending.{{cite news|last=Stark|first=Susan|journal=The Jackson Sun|date=30 April 1995|title=A family tradition: storytelling – Hollywood hasn't affected author Maeve Binchy. She simply is expanding her circle of friends|location=Jackson, Tennessee|page=4B}}{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112679/|title=Circle of Friends|work=IMDB.com|access-date=30 June 2018|archive-date=27 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180727173432/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112679/|url-status=live}}
Tara Road (2005) – Hollywood film starring Olivia Williams and Andie MacDowell and based on Binchy's sixth novel, Tara Road (1998) – which was adopted as an Oprah's Book Club selection in September 1999.
How About You (2007) – Irish film based on the short story "How About You" (sometimes published as "The Hard Core") and starring Vanessa Redgrave, Joss Ackland, Brenda Fricker, and Imelda Staunton, from the short story collection titled This Year It Will Be Different: And Other Stories (1996).

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.

==Radio==

Since 1968, Binchy was a "frequent and hugely popular contributor to RTÉ Radio". 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."

==Television==

Deeply Regretted By... (1978) – Binchy won a Jacob's Award for this RTÉ One television play, which was filmed in Ireland and stars Donal Farmer and Joan O'Hara.{{cite journal|url=http://www.rte.ie/tv/annerhouse/index.html|title=Maeve Binchy's Anner House|year=2007|journal=RTÉ One|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403161157/http://www.rte.ie/tv/annerhouse/index.html|archive-date=3 April 2015}}{{cite web|year=2007|access-date=4 August 2012|title=Anner House (TV 2007)|work=IMDb|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0981258/|archive-date=30 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120830132243/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0981258/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|access-date=4 August 2012 |work=maevebinchy.com |url=http://www.maevebinchy.com/deeplyregrettedby.html |title=Deeply Regretted by... |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111230214821/http://www.maevebinchy.com/deeplyregrettedby.html |archive-date=30 December 2011 }}
Echoes (1988) – four-part television miniseries on Channel 4, based on Binchy's second novel, Echoes (published in 1985).
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){{cite web|work=imdb.com|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0186309/|access-date=4 August 2012|title='The Lilac Bus' (TV 1990)|archive-date=5 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005041221/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0186309/|url-status=live}}
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.{{cite web|year=2007|access-date=4 August 2012|title=Anner House|website=imdb.com|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0981258/|archive-date=30 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120830132243/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0981258/|url-status=live}}

References

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

External links

{{official website|www.maevebinchy.com}}
{{IMDb name|82759}}
[http://www.irishtimes.com/topics/maeve-binchy Maeve Binchy profile at The Irish Times] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120914094940/http://www.irishtimes.com/topics/maeve-binchy |date=14 September 2012 }}, accessed 25 February 2015.

Category:1939 births

Category:2012 deaths

Category:Burials at Mount Jerome Cemetery and Crematorium

Category:Alumni of University College Dublin

Category:British Book Award winners

Category:Disease-related deaths in the Republic of Ireland

Category:Irish columnists

Category:Irish women novelists

Category:Irish non-fiction writers

Category:Irish women non-fiction writers

Category:Former Roman Catholics

Category:Irish agnostics