Máire's mother's family, the Deasys from Lehenagh, Barryroe, were native Gaelic speakers. She attended Darrara National School and the Convent of Mercy, Clonakilty from the early 1880's. Máire lived through a very interesting important period in the revival of the Irish language and she took a large part in that revival. 'Dul Amú - Going Astray' was the pen name she selected for herself. THE CHIEF EVENTS IN HER INTELLECTUAL & LITERARY LIFE Máire Ní Shíthe was one of the first female writers and dramatists in Irish after 1882. Pádraig Pearse often wrote to entice her to write stories,poems etc. for his national newspaper 'An Claidheamh Soluis'. She won first prize at the Oireachtas in 1901 with her drama 'Suipéar Dhiarmada Mhic Pháidin'. She acted in her own drama- 'Beart Notaí' in Belfast in 1902. She translated the drama 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme' by the acclaimed French dramatist, Molière, to Irish, under the title - 'An Geocach Duine Uasail'. She translated German stories to Irish, which were published in 'An Claidheamh Soluis' and 'Irisleabhar Na Gaeilge'. She was appointed Irish editor of the newspaper - 'The Cork Sun' in 1903. She taught conversational Irish in the Clonakilty District in the 1920's.