Welcome to a new series on Irish writers of the fantastic. Over the next few months Swan River Press will be taking us on a tour through Ireland’s fantasy heritage.
“Granny, did you know why your friend ventured so fearlessly into the ghost’s territories?” – “The Dark Lady” (1847)
Anna Maria Hall (1800-1881), who wrote under the name Mrs. S.C. Hall, penned numerous collections, novels, and plays in which she often depicted sympathetic portraits of Ireland and its people. She was born Anna Maria Fielding in Anne Street, Dublin, on 6 January 1800. At the age of fifteen she moved to London where, in 1824, she married journalist and editor Samuel Carter Hall (1800-1889). During her career, she contributed articles, sketches, and stories to several periodicals edited by her husband, including The Amulet and The Art Journal; she also briefly edited St. James’s Magazine. Hall is primarily remembered for her regional works, which include Sketches of Irish Character (1829), Lights and Shadows of Irish Life (1838), and Ireland: Its Scenery and Character (1841-43; co-written with her husband). She was also a member of the Irish temperance movement and a fervent supporter of women’s rights. She died on 30 January 1881.
Read Anna Maria Hall at Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/6394
