Maureen Daly

Maureen Daly (March 15, 1921 – September 25, 2006) was an Irish-born American writer who wrote the 1942 novel Seventeenth Summer while still in her teens. Originally marketed for adults, it described a contemporary teenage romance and drew a large teenage audience. It is regarded by some as the first young adult novel, and the market niche of young adult literature was not developed until the 1960s, more than 20 years later. At age 16, Daly also wrote the award-winning short story "Sixteen", which appeared in many anthologies.

Although Daly did not publish another novel for 44 years after Seventeenth Summer, she had a long career in journalism from the 1940s through the 1990s, working at the Chicago Tribune, Ladies' Home Journal, The Saturday Evening Post, and The Desert Sun. While at the Tribune, she wrote a popular syndicated advice column for teenagers that later was covered by her younger sister, Sheila John Daly. She also wrote nonfiction books for adults and teenagers as well as story books for children. In the 1980s and early 1990s, she wrote two more young adult novels dealing with themes of romance.

She was one of the four Daly sisters (Maggie, Kay, and Sheila John) whose successful careers in media, fashion and business were covered by national magazines during the 1940s and 1950s. She also co-wrote some books with her husband, mystery and crime author William P. McGivern.

Early life Maureen Daly was born March 15, 1921, in Castlecaulfield, Ireland to Joseph Desmond Daly, a bicycle shop owner, and his wife Margaret Kelly Daly, who according to a Life magazine profile on the family was a distant cousin of banker Andrew Mellon and a descendant of Mary, Queen of Scots. Maureen was the third daughter born to the Dalys, who already had daughters Marguerite, known as Maggie, and Kathleen, known as Kay.

At the time of Maureen Daly's birth, Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In May 1921, the partition of Ireland took place and County Tyrone became part of the newly created Northern Ireland. To escape the effects of the Irish War of Independence, Joseph Daly and the family emigrated to the United States. He moved to the U.S. in 1921, and the rest of his family had joined him by 1923 when Maureen Daly was aged two. The youngest Daly daughter, Sheila John Daly, was born in the United States. When Daly left the Chicago Tribune in 1945 to join Ladies' Home Journal, her sister Sheila John, who was then a teenager, took over Daly's syndicated advice column for teenagers and continued to write the column into the 1960s, also writing several books of advice for teenagers. Time magazine called the four sisters "the celebrated Daly sisters,"

Selected works Young adult books Seventeenth Summer (1942) Smarter and Smoother: A Handbook on How to Be That Way (1944, non-fiction) Objective: Johnny (1944) (one-act play) What's Your P.Q. (Personality Quotient)? (1952, non-fiction) Twelve Around the World (1957, non-fiction) Spanish Roundabout (1960, non-fiction) Moroccan Roundabout (1961, non-fiction) Sixteen and Other Stories (1961, short stories) Acts of Love (1986) First a Dream (1990)

Children's books Patrick Visits the Farm (1959) Patrick Takes a Trip (1960) Patrick Visits the Library (1961) Patrick Visits the Zoo (1963) The Ginger Horse (1964) Spain: Wonderland of Contrasts (1965) (non-fiction) The Small War of Sergeant Donkey (1966) Rosie, the Dancing Elephant (1967)

Other works The Perfect Hostess (1950, non-fiction) Profile of Youth (1951, non-fiction) Mention My Name In Mombasa (1958, non-fiction, as Maureen McGivern, with William P. McGivern) The Seeing (1980, as Maureen McGivern, with William P. McGivern) In addition, Daly has been credited with completing William P. McGivern's final novel A Matter of Honor (1984) after he died in 1982 leaving it unfinished, but her name does not appear as co-author on the published editions.

As editor My Favorite Stories (1948) My Favorite Mystery Stories (1966) My Favorite Suspense Stories (1968)

Legacy Part of the library at Marian University in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin was named after Daly in 1963.