Mairead Ni Ghrada
| Date of Birth: | 23 December 1896 |
Máiréad Ní Ghráda (23 December 1896 – 13 June 1971) was an Irish poet, playwright, and broadcaster born in Kilmaley, County Clare. Ní Ghráda's mother was Bridget Ní Ghrianna while her father, Séamas Ó Gráda, was a farmer, local county councillor and a native speaker of Irish. It is thought it was from him Máiréad got her love for the Irish language and he was known to recite ancient Munster Irish poems such as Cúirt an Mheán Oíche. Ní Ghráda attended Kilmaley national school, secondary school run by the Sisters of Mercy in Ennis, then studied Irish, French and English at University College Dublin. 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. Ní Ghráda was a children's programme compiler on the 1926 radio station 2RN (which went on to become Radio Éireann), later becoming the station's principal announcer in 1929, holding that position until 1935 when she became a part-time announcer. During this period Ní Ghráda began to write radio and stage productions, and her play Micheál won an Abbey Theatre award in 1933. Source: Wikipedia.org