Kathleen Coyle (original) (raw)

Writer
1883 to 1952

Born in Londonderry, Coyle became lame as the result of an accident when she was three and had to wear a built-up shoe. When she was still a young woman the family house burned down and she moved to Liverpool with her mother and one of her brothers. She worked there in a library, and then in an editor’s office in London. Later she travelled in Belgium and in Paris – where she knew the Joyces – before moving to Dublin and taking part in the labour and women’s suffrage movements.

Coyle published thirteen novels, one of which – The French Husband – was composed in eleven days. Her best-known publications are two volumes of autobiography, A Flock Of Birds and The Magical Realm, which deal with her childhood in Derry.

Location of plaque: Bishop Street, Londonderry

Date of Unveiling: 27 October 1995