Mary O'Donnell's work has been published in Ireland and internationally since 1990, including poetry, four novels, three short story collections, essays and journalism. Her collection Massacre of the Birds (Salmon) appeared in 2020 and is translated and published in Brazilian Portuguese. Other translated work, both poetry and fiction, is available in Hungarian and in Spanish. She has held residencies at the Irish College in Paris, at the Irish College in Leuven and is a member of Ireland's affiliation of artists, Aosdana.