Dervla Murphy was born at Lismore in 1931. She was daughter of Fergus Murphy-the County Librarian-and was educated at the local Presentation Convent and later the Ursuline Convent in Waterford City.
Her travels around the world- by bicycle and on foot-have provided the material for an impressive array of books.
Her published works include: The Ukimwi Road:From Kenya to Zimbabwe, Eight Feet in the Andes:Travels with a Mule in Unknown Peru (2003), On a Shoestring to Coorg: An Experience of Southern India (2003), Full Tilt:From Dublin to Delhi with a Bicycle (2004), A Woman's World:True Stories of Life on the Road.
She is patron of the Immrama Festival in Lismore.