Máiréad Ní Ghráda

Máiréad Ní Ghráda (23 December 1896 – 13 June 1971)[1] was an Irish poet, playwright, and broadcaster born in Kilmaley, County Clare.

[2] Ní Ghráda was jailed during the Irish War of Independence in 1921 for selling republican flags, and later she became the secretary to the Cumann na nGaedheal TD Ernest Blythe.

During this period Ní Ghráda began to write radio and stage productions, and her play Micheál won an Abbey Theatre award in 1933.

[5] Ní Ghráda is widely known for her 1964 play An Triail which brought her into the public eye, showing the harshness of Irish society and the hypocrisy at the time.

While the storyline in An Triail was clearly inspired in part by the fate which befell Sylvia Plath in 1963, the dramaturgy and techniques utilised by Ní Ghráda throughout the play were strongly influenced by Bertholt Brecht.