Máire Mhac an tSaoi was born in Dublin in 1922, the eldest of three children born to Seán and Mairéad (née de Brún) Mac an tSaoi. Her father was a senior politician and her mother was a teacher. She went to Alexandra College where her mother was teaching, to Loreto Convent, Rathfarnham, to University College Dublin and to the Institut des Hautes Études in Sorbonne; she also spend long periods in Scoil Ghobnait in Dunquin. She studied modern languages and Celtic Studies. Amongst those she cites as having had an influence on her are her mother, in particular, Míchéal Ó hAodha, Colm Ó Lochlainn, Gearóid Ó Murchú, Roger Chauviré, and Professor Vendryes and to a great extent her uncle, Mons. Pádraig de Brún. She has lived in Ireland since 1969.

She was a Scholar at the School of Celtic Studies at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies and she was a Travelling Scholar for two years (1945-1947). She was on the Department of Foreign Affairs staff in service in France, Spain, Strasbourg and with the United Nations, and a member of the staff of English-Irish Dictionary (Oifig an tSoláthair, 1959) under the editorship of Professor Tomás de Bhaldraithe. She has edited many Irish Classics and prose, such as Dhá sgéal Artúraíochta (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1946).

Máire Mhac an tSaoi is regarded as a major Irish poet. She has the technical knowledge of the traditional forms and of Classical Irish and she has a measured style in her poetry which is reminiscent of classical Irish poetry - despite her being a contemporary, international poet. The University of Ireland awarded her an honorary doctorate in 1991. Mac an tSaoi is one of the most beautiful readers in any language; it is well worth listening to the recording Máire Mhac an tSaoi: guth an fhile (Cló Iar-Chonnachta, 1992).

Poetry
Margadh na saoire (Sáirséal & Dill, 1956)
Codladh an ghaiscígh agus véarsaí eile (Sáirséal & Dill, 1973)
An galar dubhach (Sáirséal & Dill, 1980)
An cion go dtí seo (Sáirséal Ó Marcaigh, 1987)
Shoa agus dánta eile (Sairséal Ó Marcaigh, 1999)

Translations
Trasládáil (Lagan Press, 1997) [ bunleaganacha Gaeilge móide a cuid aistriúchán go Béarla ar dhánta le Maghnas Ó Domhnaill, Liam Dall Ó hIfearnáin, Piaras Feirtéir agus eile]
Miserere (Gill & Macmillan, 1971) [aistriúchán go Béarla ar dhánta le Mons. de Brún]
A heart full of thought (Dolmen, 1959) [aistriúchán go Béarla ar dhánta ón nGaeilge]

Novel
A Bhean Óg (Cló Iar-Chonnachta, 2001

Research
Cérbh í Meg Russell? (Leabhar Breac, 2008) [i gcomhar le Máire Mac Conghail agus Liz Ó Droma]
A Concise History of Ireland (Thames and Hudson, 1972) [i gcomhar le Conor Cruise O'Brien]

Autobiography
The same age as the State (O'Brien Press, 2003)

Editing Work
Dhá sgéal Artúraíochta (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1946)

Updated May 2009

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