Collection of Maeve Binchy’s ‘Irish Times’ writings launched

The best way to get to know Maeve Binchy was simply to read her reports in The Irish Times, the newspaper's Literary Editor, Fintan O'Toole, said last night.

“The reason you read Maeve was simply because you couldn’t help yourself – once you started, you simply could not stop until you got to the end,” he said

Launching Maeve's Times, a hardback collection of her work for the newspaper, edited
by Róisín Ingle (Hachette, €16.99), the paper's
editor Kevin O'Sullivan said the work of the late author and reporter was among the most significant in the newspaper's 150-year history.

“Her powers of observation were always acute; likewise her ability to thread humour and lightness of touch into the printed word,” he said. “Often it came with the ability to deliver a very serious message on issues that dominated our collective conversations: the upheaval of Irish society in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.”

Maeve's husband Gordon Snell wrote an introduction to the book. He said his wife had been very proud to work for The Irish Times and with this collection she would be "delighted to see how proud of her is the paper".

Others attending included her sister Joan Ryan and many of Maeve’s former colleagues.