‘I can hear her voice just saying, the asylum seekers come here the same way we all went’
Over 150 guests gathered for the launch of Mary Lavin Place, the first public space in Ireland to be named after an Irish woman writer.
It links Wilton Place to Lad Lane, where Mary Lavin lived and worked between 1958 and 1981.
The newly-restored Wilton Park, fronting on to the Grand Canal, was also reopened following a careful restoration, with new seating, lawns, paths and planting, as well as the original Victorian fountain.
“We’re here to honour a writer, a figure with great integrity. Mary Lavin was one of the central figures in the refining of the short story form in English, a trend setter,” Colm Tóibín said.
“In a society controlled by men, with so many men as writers, politicians and artists. Her moment is then as much now. She had irony, ambiguity and complexity.
“In her private life, she was known for two things: her hospitality and her sense of beauty. She was also an activist going as far as the Supreme Court to protect this area from a building.
“I can hear her voice just saying, the asylum seekers come here the same way we all went. She would not need to remind us that she herself was born in America where her father had gone in search of a better life,” he added.
Mary Lavin was one of the most celebrated writers of her generation, internationally acknowledged as a master of the short story.
Born to Irish parents in East Walpole, Massachusetts, she moved with them to Ireland as a child of ten and spent most of her life in Bective, Co Meath.
This provided the setting for many of her stories, including her first collection, Tales from Bective Bridge (1942), which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
She received numerous honours, including the Katherine Mansfield Prize, an honorary doctorate from the National University of Ireland and the title Saoi from Aosdána, Ireland’s highest honour for an artist.
Colm Tóibín with writer Kathleen MacMahon, a granddaughter of Mary Lavin, and Niall Gaffney, CEO of IPUT Real Estate Dublin at the launch of Mary Lavin Place
Mary Lavin’s granddaughter, the writer Kathleen MacMahon, also spoke on behalf of the Lavin family.
“Mary Lavin died in 1996 – so nearly thirty years after her death, here we are, celebrating something most writers never achieve, and that is permanence,” she said.
“It’s the quality of her work that has proved lasting – a monumental achievement that most writers can only dream of – 30 years after her death her reputation is still growing.
“As a family – there are 8 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren – it’s a really proud day for us.
“It’s also emotional – I think we’re all thinking not just of our grandmother but of our mothers, Mary Lavin’s three daughters, who I’m sure we’re all picturing in this place, where they lived a glorious, loving, often chaotic existence with her in the mews just around the corner.
“She had such style – the love of Italy and France was brought to the mews in the form of coq au vin and bolognese and, of course, liberal amounts of red wine.
“I think one thing what’s really important to point out is that she didn’t have independent wealth.
“She was a widow, but she was also the breadwinner, and she had to earn the money to pay for all that wine, to rear her children, to pay her bills, and she did that with her pen, something that wasn’t easy then and isn’t easy now.”
Niall Gaffney, CEO of IPUT Real Estate Dublin, added: “This act of naming is very important as it keeps Mary’s legacy alive, as well as the literary history of the area.
“When our occupiers, Stripe, EY and LinkedIn, move into the workplaces around us over the coming 12 months, we will have a working population of over 5,000 in this community.
“We wanted to respect the integrity of the place, the history of the place.
“It was only at this stage back in 2017, when researching the neighbourhood around Wilton Park, that I came across the connection of Mary Lavin to nearby Lad Lane.
“Next, I found a New Yorker podcast where Colm Tóibín spoke about Mary’s work, how it resonated with him, and he recited an excerpt from In the Fields.
“This was the moment I joined the dots. Colm was a friend and admirer of Mary, he is a neighbour to Wilton Park, they both lived and socialised on these streets. And, importantly, both have had a profound influence on Irish and international literature.
“Mary rightfully takes her place amongst the pantheon of largely but not exclusively, celebrated male writers who are so synonymous with this area, often called Baggotonia.
“As I look across the park to her erstwhile contemporary Patrick Kavanagh along the Grand Canal, I hope and believe we will see a resurgence of interest in Mary’s work following this opening.
“We name this place after Mary Lavin and hope that it inspires people to visit, to learn more about Mary, the rich heritage of Baggotonia, the beauty of the park and the Grand Canal,” he added.
