Biography

Fran OBrien grew up on the south side of Dublin and always had a love of literature.  In 2004, Fran and her husband, Arthur McGuinness, heard Jane McKenna, the founder of LauraLynn Children’s Hospice, speak on the radio. They were very moved to hear about the tragic loss of Laura and Lynn, Jane and Brendan’s only two daughters. They decided to establish McGuinness Books and publish the first of Fran’s books – THE MARRIED WOMAN – to raise funds for a children’s hospice to be built in memory of Jane and Brendan’s girls, Laura and Lynn.

 

Jane and Brendan have been through every parent’s worst nightmare.  Laura died, just four years old, following surgery to repair a heart defect. Her big sister, Lynn, aged fifteen, died less than two years later, having lost her battle against Leukaemia – diagnosed on the day of Laura’s surgery.

 

Now their dream has come true, and LauraLynn Children’s Hospice has become a reality and opened in 2011 in Leopardstown, Dublin.  It offers community based paediatric palliative care, respite, and end-of-life care. It also runs LauraLynn@home programme, and there are two bases, one in Mallow for the south of the country, and one in Ballinasloe for the midlands region, offering palliative care support service for children and their families in their homes.

 

Since 2005, Fran has written and published a large number of novels, and all proceeds from sales are donated to LauraLynn.  Fran and Arthur have become close friends with Jane and Brendan, and knowing them has changed their lives.

 

Nowadays, the books are sold at shows like the Ideal Homes Show, Bloom, Dublin Horse Show, Gifted, the Contemporary Craft and Design Show, and others.

 

Fran has also written for theatre, and her granduncle, Professor Liam OBriain, was one of the founders of An Taidhbhearc theatre in Galway. He was also a writer and translator and wrote in the Irish language about his participation in The College of Surgeons during the Rising in Easter Week 1916. In Liam’s memory, Fran and Arthur published a book about Liam’s experiences from 1917 to 1921 entitled Self-Portrait Liam OBriain which is in English.