Lady Augusta Gregory was born in 1854 in London, England. She was the daughter of Sir Frederick Gregory, the President of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. Her mother was one of nine children. Augusta grew up with a vivid interest in the writings of Charles Dickens and other authors
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She wrote her first story at age twelve and continued writing throughout her life. By the time she was twenty-two, she had published ten books. At twenty-four, she began to take on the role of literary editor for The Woman's World, one of England's leading periodicals for women.
Her work there was widely praised; she even received an honorary degree from Oxford University for her writings.
Her first major play, "The Evil Life," opened in London in 1888 and was followed by "The Unspeakable Betrayal," "The Miracle," and "The Magic City." Lady Gregory lived to see all three plays performed; even today these plays are read by scholars and students alike.
Gregory is reputed to have been one of the world's finest short story writers. Her stories are noted for their accuracy of detail, vivid descriptions, and striking style. Her earliest collection, "Five Short Stories," was published in 1891 when she was thirty-three years old.
Four years later she published another collection that included stories that had previously appeared in magazines but not in book form.
Her most famous work is "Celtic Literature" (1903), which is considered a classic study of Celtic mythology and literature, written at a time when little or nothing had been written about this subject matter in English. Her other well-known works include "The Song of Wandering Aengus" (1910), "Songs For Children" (1912), "Ancestral Voices" (1915) and "The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls" (1917).