Lady Gregory

Augusta, Lady Gregory (1852–1932) was an Irish playwright, folklorist and theater founder. Born Isabella Augusta Persse in County Galway, she married Sir William Gregory of Coole Park and, after his death in 1892, devoted herself to Irish language, folklore and literature. With W. B. Yeats and Edward Martyn she founded the Irish Literary Theatre, which became the Abbey Theatre, and wrote some forty plays for it, including Spreading the News and The Rising of the Moon. Her retellings of Irish legend, Cuchulain of Muirthemne and Gods and Fighting Men, used the speech of the Galway countryside. Coole Park became a retreat for writers of the Irish revival.