Born in Rathangan, County Kildare, Maura Laverty was educated at the Brigidine Convent, Carlow, where she studied teacher training. She acted as governess and later secretary to Princess Bibesco in Spain. She became a foreign correspondent in Madrid. She returned to Ireland in 1928 and worked in Dublin as a journalist and broadcaster. She was a talented novelist and playwright, her most famous novel is Never No More. Her work as food journalist led to the publication of Full & Plenty by Anvil Press in 1960.