O'Mahony, Nora (Norah) Tynan (1866–1954), poet and novelist, was born 15 February 1866 in Whitehall, Clondalkin, Co. Dublin, one of twelve children of Andrew Cullen Tynan , a livestock farmer from Clondalkin, and Elizabeth Tynan (née Reilly). She attended the Dominician convent of St Catherine of Siena, Drogheda, and demonstrated an artistic inclination from an early age, showing a particular skill for flower painting. Flowers were also the favoured subject of her youthful verse, and flower motifs are evident in her later works. She married (29 April 1895) John O'Mahony from Cork, a staff journalist from 1891 with the Irish Independent; he studied law and was called to the bar in January 1899. They had three sons, and lived first near Whitehall in Dublin, then in Drumcondra. One of their sons, Gerard Cullen Tynan O'Mahony (1900–1948), became manager of the Irish Times in 1942 and was the father of David Tynan O'Mahony (1936–2005), better known as the comedian Dave Allen (qv). After her husband's death in 1904, the family moved to Cooleen, Tallaght, Co. Dublin. Nora's first appearance in print was probably her story ‘The magpie’, which featured in the New Ireland Review in April 1903. The following January her poem ‘A city of exile’ appeared in the Irish Monthly, after which she published poetry steadily in that journal until June 1931. Her poems also appeared in other Irish, English, and American periodicals, such as the Pall Mall Gazette. Some of her first prose writings featured in the Social Review; her article ‘Neglect of Irish writers’ appeared in the Catholic World (April 1908). She published a volume of verse, The fields of heaven (1915), and wrote novels for a young readership, including Una's enterprise (1907), Mrs Desmond's foster-child (1912), and The secret of Yellow Meadows Farm (n.d.). She was also for a time women's editor of the Freeman's Journal.
Her literary career was overshadowed by that of her elder sister Katharine Tynan Hinkson (qv), a highly prolific novelist better remembered by posterity for her poetry and her associations with some of the leading figures of the Irish literary revival. It has been suggested that Nora retained her maiden name after marriage so as to be associated with her famous sister. The themes of her poetry rarely deviate from those of her life, especially the defining experiences of motherhood and the death of her husband. She died in Dublin on 13 December 1954.