Caitríona Ní Chléirchín and I will be reading some poems by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, as well as our own, on Friday 16 May at 7pm in Cork Arts Theatre as part of the Cork International Poetry Festival . Simon Ó Faoláin will moderate the event.
Delighted to have some poems translated to Czech translated by Daniela Theinová and Martin Světlík, alongside work by Biddy Jenkinson, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Alan Titley, Peter Mackay, Christopher Whyte, and Niall Ó Gallchóir. It was lovely to hear the Czech translations at a reading in Café Libéral in Prague in October. With thanks to Culture Ireland and the EFACIS Irish Itinerary.
What an absolute delight to have some poems translated to Occitan in the September issue of OC, alongside Aifric Mac Aodha, Biddy Jenkinson, and Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill (‘quatre poètas gaelics d’Irlanda’). My thanks to Clíona Ní Ríordáin, David Wheatley, and Kevin Barry. Occitan is a language that I would love to explore, especially having so much enjoyed the poetry of Aurélie Lassaque.
Here is a link to a radio programme I worked on about the Innti poetry journal and its legacy. Featuring interviews with Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Gabriel Rosenstock, Pádraig Ó Cíobháin, Liam Carson and Caitríona Ní Chléirchín, the documentary tries to capture the spirit of the journal. It was broadcast on Raidio na Gaeltachta on the 27 December 2021.
I was asked to write a piece about my impression of ‘Europe’ and I wrote about my Erasmus year in Rennes, minority languages, majority languages, and gorgeous French books. You can read it on Kaleidoscope II project page, alongside essays by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Doireann Ní Ghríofa and more besides.
My thanks to EFACIS (European Federation of Associations and Centres for Irish Studies), in particular, Hedwig Schwall and Anne Fogarty.
Oliver O’Hanlon wrote a nice piece about Parnell’s Walking Stick for The Irish Times which you can read here.
Thrilled that Tost agus Allagar won the Michael Hartnett Award 2019. Buíochas ó chroí to the judges, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill and Gabriel Fitzmaurice. My thanks, too, to Norma Prendiville and the organising committee of Éigse Michael Hartnett. 
The Cork International Poetry Festival is kicking off today and will continue until Saturday night. It’s great to see so many Irish-language poets included on the programme – Caitríona Ní Chléirchín & Simon Ó Faoláin will read together in the City Library on Grand Parade on Friday at 4pm. Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill will read with David Harsent on Friday night at 10pm at Cork Arts Theatre. And I was chuffed to get the call-up to read alongside Leanne O’Sullivan on Saturday afternoon at 4pm at Cork Arts Theatre. This event is instead of a public interview with Marie Howe, whose book Magdalene I enjoyed reading late last year. So while it’s a pity we won’t get to hear from Marie Howe, I’m looking forward to sharing a stage with Leanne for the first time, a poet whose work I have admired since her first collection, Waiting for my Clothes.
I was delighted to be invited to speak at the conference ‘All Things Considered… Material Culture and Memory’ at University College Cork at the weekend. It was an interdisciplinary conference hosted by the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures which looked at interactions between memory and the material world. I spoke about Parnell’s Walking Stick and its previous custodians, among them Brinsley MacNamara, W.R. Rogers, and Conor Cruise O’Brien. I took the opportunity to read some poems inspired by objects by two of the most recents holders of the Stick, Séamus Heaney and Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill. My thanks to the organisers, Dr Chiara Giuliani and Dr Kate Hodgson, for the kind invitation.
Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh was recently presented with Parnell’s Walking Stick. Cut by Charles Stewart Parnell himself in Avondale Wood in 1889 or 1890, this stick has a rich literary history. It came into the possession of Brinsley MacNamara, who, in turn, gave it to the poet W.R. Rodgers. It was later passed on to Conor Cruise O’Brien, who conferred it on Séamus Heaney. In 1998 Heaney entrusted it to Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, and it was she who decided to bestow it on Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh. The presentation occurred in Poetry Ireland on Parnell Square at a reading of Ní Ghearbhuigh’s new collection, The Coast Road (The Gallery Press, 2016).
Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh 
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