Sir, – We are preparing for publication an edition of the poems of Dr Ethna MacCarthy (1903-1959). MacCarthy was a scholar and a first-class moderator (1926) at Trinity College Dublin where she taught languages in the 1930s and 1940s before studying medicine which she practised in Dublin and in the East End of London. She was a close friend of leading writers of her time, including Samuel Beckett, Denis Johnston and AJ Leventhal (whom she later married), publishing translations from Spanish and German poets before developing a highly distinctive style of her own.
We would be very interested in hearing from any of your readers who may have family connections to Dr MacCarthy or the circle of friends and colleagues with whom she moved at Trinity College Dublin during the 1920s-1940s.
We can be contacted at the following email address: gdawe@tcd.ie – Yours, etc,
EOIN O’BRIEN,
GERALD DAWE,
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.