Maureen Daly

Who was Maureen Daly?

Maureen Daly, was an American author best known for her novel Seventeenth Summer, while published for adults, it became one of the first to capture a teenaged audience. Some scholars consider it the first Young Adult novel.

She was born in Castlecaufield, Northern Ireland, County Tyrone, Ulster, in 1921.

Daly won an O. Henry Award for her short story, Sixteen, while still at high school. Seventeenth Summer was written before she turned twenty. By 1982, it had gone into 45 hardback editions.

She was one of what Time Magazine referred to as "the celebrated Daly sisters," four sisters who were known for their writing and work in, journalism, fashion and advertising. In 1947 she married mystery and crime thriller writer William P. McGivern. They co-wrote “Mention My Name in Mombasa; the Unscheduled Adventures of an American Family Abroad,” which covered their times and adventures living oversees, including Africa, Torremolinos, Spain and Dublin and a visit to her birthplace, Castlecaulfield.

Daly also worked as a journalist on papers and magazines including the Chicago Tribune, Ladies' Home Journal and The Saturday Evening Post.