The Diaries of Kathleen Lynn – Revealing History Through Personal Writing BOOKED OUT Dr Mary McAuliffe and Harriet Wheelock, Dr Martina Devlin and Dr Margaret Ward

In Partnership with National Library of Ireland

Kathleen Lynn’s Diaries (UCD Press) is a new book containing selected extracts from the extensive diaries of Dr Kathleen Lynn (1874-1955), which spanned from 1916 until 1955; shedding light on her political activities, feminist ideas, medical work, and personal life. Join the books editors Dr Mary McAuliffe and Harriet Wheelock, author and journalist Dr Martina Devlin, and Honorary Senior Lecturer in History at Queen’s University, Belfast, Dr Margaret Ward, as they discuss the book and assess Kathleen Lynn’s legacy through her personal writing, as well as the ongoing debate about the naming of the new Children’s Hospital in her honour.

Dr Martina Devlin is an author and journalist. She has written eight novels, a short story collection, two non-fiction books and two plays. Her latest book is Edith: A Novel about the Irish R.M. co-author Edith Somerville. Prizes include the Royal Society of Literature’s V.S. Pritchett Prize and a Hennessy Literary Award, and she has been shortlisted three times for the Irish Book Awards. She writes a weekly current affairs column for the Irish Independent and has been named National Newspapers of Ireland commentator of the year. She is the first holder of a PhD in literary practice from Trinity College Dublin, and has taught Irish literature at Trinity College, Boston University and Palacky University.

Dr Mary McAuliffe is a historian and Director of Gender Studies at UCD, her latest publications include Margaret Skinnider; a biography (UCD Press, 2020) and co-editor with Miriam Haughton and Emilie Pine, Legacies of the Magdalen Laundries; Commemoration, Gender, and the Postcolonial Carceral State (Manchester University Press, 2021). She is a past President of the Women’s History Association of Ireland and a member of the Humanities Institute, UCD. She was awarded the 2023 Foy-Justice award by UCD LGBTQI+ for her work on the Irish Queer Archive, and her research on Irish queer histories and sexualities.

Dr Margaret Ward is Honorary Senior Lecturer in History at Queen’s University, Belfast. Her books include Unmanageable Revolutionaries, women and Irish Nationalism and Fearless Woman: Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, feminism and the Irish revolution.

Harriet Wheelock is Keeper of Collections in RCPI, with responsibility for the management and development of RCPI’s Heritage Centre. Harriet worked as an Archival Student in the National Library of Ireland and complete her MA in Archives and Records Management from University College Dublin.  She is currently a PhD student in the TU Dublin School of Creative Arts, where her research focuses on the development and historiography of RCPI’s heritage collections.