- Lived in Dublin, Ireland.
- She moved to Derry in the 1970s after meeting her second husband, solicitor David Gilliland, and returned to Dublin on his death in 2019.
- She left Trinity College Dublin in 1951 without completing her degree in English and French after marrying Ian Smyth. She went on to receive an honorary degree from the university in 2001.
- In 2012, she was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Irish Book Awards and she was one of the writers nominated in 2014 for the position of first Irish Laureate for Fiction.
- Has four children, Patrick, Sarah, Lucy and Malachi.
- Father Denis Johnston was a playwright, her mother Shelah Richards was an actor and producer.
- Graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 1965 with a degree in ancient and modern literature.
- Cousin of actresses Geraldine Fitzgerald, Tara Fitzgerald and Susan Fitzgerald.
- Born into a Protestant family in Dublin, her work touched on the Troubles, relationships between Catholics and Protestants and between Irish and British.
- Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1977 for her fourth novel "Shadows On Our Skin".
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