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Poem of the Week: “Tionlacan/Accompaniment” by Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh

I can’t say
if it was the quiet
or lonesomeness
that woke me that morning

Frank Sewell on Editing and Translating Máirtín Ó Direáin: An Interview

This month, Máirtín Ó Direáin’s Selected Poems/Rogha Dánta was released in the US, the first time his work has been published outside of Ireland. We wanted to know more about Ó Direáin’s place in Irish-language poetry, as well as editor Frank Sewell’s process in selecting and translating these poems. Brian Ó Conchubhair, Associate Professor of Irish Language and Literature at the University of Notre Dame, led a fascinating conversation with Sewell, the transcription of which we’ve included here.

WFU Press interns make the most of it!

Wake Forest is back for the fall semester, but of course, this is a semester unlike any other. Though our current crop of interns is virtual, they’re determined to make the most of their time at the press. We have two returnees and two new interns, all of whom will graduate this year. We asked each to tell us what interests them about publishing and what they’re most looking forward to learning.

Poem of the Week: “Mo Cheirdse/My Craft” by Máirtín Ó Direáin

It’s all patience—my craft.
I’m like a fisherman
Waiting for a trout.

Poem of the Week: “Planter” by Moyra Donaldson

My brother is a lean white shadow in the early morning light,
unspoken things
have kept him thin, despite his wife’s attempts to fatten him on love.

Poem of the Week: “Don’t You” by Alan Gillis

I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar,
that much is true. But even then I knew I’d find
myself behind the wheel of a large automobile,
or in a beautiful house…

Poem of the Week: “Polar” by Caitríona O’Reilly

By means of this the photon
is deflected into darkness,
our white-heat leaking from us.

Poem of the Week: “Tightening loosening” by Jacques Dupin

Tightening loosening
on the restored tracks

without entirely freeing herself as woman 
from the vague bestiary that besets her…

“A Deep Ocean One Can Plunge Into”: An Interview with Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin

Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin’s newest book The Mother House was published in the US this April, and it has been gaining praise across the board, including being chosen for the Irish Times Poetry Now Award. Despite finishing out the semester at home, WFU Press intern Emelyn Hatch conducted an interview with the poet via email to dig deeper into this shining collection.

Poem of the Week: “Direction” by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin

Searching about again to find my father
I must take a step backwards, for in the time
since I last saw him he has moved and changed 
more than in all of his life—