Michael MacLaverty

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Michael MacLaverty (1904 – 1992) was an Irish writer of novels and short stories. He was born in County Monaghan and then moved to Belfast where he worked as a teacher. For a short period he lived on Rathlin Island, off the County Antrim coast. In the 1960s he was the principal of St. Thomas' Secondary School on the Whiterock Road in the upper Falls Road area of West Belfast. During his tenure there Seamus Heaney was one of his staff. Heaney recalls MacLaverty's enthusiasm for teaching but also for literature. He introduced Heaney to the work of Patrick Kavanagh. Heaney summarized his contribution: "His voice was modestly pitched, he never sought the limelight, yet for all that, his place in our literature is secure."