A BOOK on the life and times of Hanna Sheehy Skeffington will be launched tonight, Thursday, in the James Connolly Visitor Centre on the Falls Road.

Fearless Woman sees Margaret Ward revisit the complex and fascinating life of Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, a pivotal figure in feminist, labour and nationalist movements in Ireland in the twentieth century.

Now reissued by UCD Press and incorporating new detailed archival research and featuring an array of newly discovered images, this timely and substantially rewritten biographical study brims with the resounding history of a tireless campaigner for social and political justice. Extensively researched and masterfully realised, Ward’s biography is a compelling addition to the contemporary endeavour to return women to their rightful place in the narrative of the nation.

Rooted in the histories of the pioneering generation that defined the infancy of the Irish Republic, the life of Hanna Sheehy Skeffington offers a rich opportunity to explore the chaotic political climate of the period through a sharp feminist lens. Through Hanna’s personal correspondence with her husband, fellow suffragettes and leading figures in the fight for Irish independence, Fearless Woman charts its protagonist’s life across almost seven decades.

Ward’s meticulous research brings to light previously unpublished material about Hanna’s professional and personal life, including her post-independence political activism, her relationship with her husband and her role as a single parent following the murder of her husband, the pacifist Francis Sheehy Skeffington, by the British Army during the Easter Rising of 1916.

The book will be launch in the James Connolly Visitor Centre tonight, Thursday, 7pm.