Tagged: “irish language”
Poem of the Week: “Another Monk and His Cat” by Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh
The final poem in Bone and Marrow/Cnámh agus Smior, “Another Monk and His Cat/Manach Eile agus a Chat” by Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh, rounds out the anthology by harkening back to its opening poem, “I and White Pangur.” The latter is “[p]erhaps the most famous poem from medieval Ireland,” and Ní Ghearbhuigh’s contemporary interpretation of the subject…
Continue Reading“Better for the Mess”: Samuel K. Fisher on the Making of Bone and Marrow
After years of planning and production, Wake Forest University Press has published one of its most ambitious titles yet: Bone and Marrow/Cnámh agus Smior: An Anthology of Irish Poetry from Medieval to Modern. Fully bilingual, this anthology presents 15 centuries of Irish-language poetry across its 900+ pages, including many new translations, contextual notes, and introductory…
Continue ReadingBone and Marrow Book Tour
Wake Forest University Press will celebrate the publication of its latest anthology, Bone and Marrow/Cnámh agus Smior: An Anthology of Irish Poetry from Medieval to Modern, with a series of launch events organized with the anthology editors Samuel K. Fisher and Brian Ó Conchubhair. Planned events include a tour of Ireland from Belfast to Galway, with…
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “As for the Quince” by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill
“As for the Quince” is an Irish-language poem written by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill (the original title “An Crann”) then translated by Paul Muldoon into English. In the weeks when spring first dares to remind us that Nature’s sometimes subtle rhythms impact our entire wellbeing, this poem is a timely reflection of growth and loss….
Continue ReadingPoem 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.
“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.
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “Feabhra/February” by Máire Mhac an tSaoi
The weather softened in the last few days.
I took the air for raiment.
Sweet, Jesus, honey sweet the season!
Rocks melt. Nor ice nor reason hold.
Poem of the Week: “The Smell of Blood” by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill
I wake up, and my hands are sticky
With the smell of blood.
And though there’s not a smudge nor blot
In eyeshot, nor any soul
Poem of the Week: “Áiféilín” by Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh
A poem in Irish by Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh, with a translation by Gabriel Rosenstock, from The Wake Forest Series of Irish Poetry, Vol. IV (2017)
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “A Postcard Home” by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill
Wake Forest Press has published books in translation for a few decades, and we’re proud to celebrate National Translation Month during September by featuring some of these poems over the next few weeks. Of course we offer quite a bit of Irish-language poetry in translation, but many of our poets have also translated from French and other…
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “Melusine” by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill
This week’s poem comes from Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill’s most recent volume, The Fifty Minute Mermaid, a selection of which was included in The Wake Forest Book of Irish Women’s Poetry. Ní Dhomhnaill’s narrative poem, “Melusine,” is based on folklore most famously captured by the 14th century French writer Jean d’Arras. In the tale, Count Raymondin meets the…
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “For Sheila” by Máire Mhac an tSaoi
I remember a room on the seaward side—
The squall caught it from the south-west—
And rain a tattoo on the window
Unslackening since the fall of night,
Irish: A Dying Language?
An article published yesterday in The Irish Times titled “Have Irish-Language books fallen off the shelf?” poses an interesting inquiry for bilingual presses. As a press specializing in Irish poetry, we take pride in publishing works both in our native English tongue, as well as in the guttural, consonant-strewn language of Irish Gaelic. Since for a large part of the 19th…
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “Persephone Suffering from SAD” by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill
Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill’s The Water Horse is a particular gem because of the collaboration of three great female Irish poets; Ní Dhomhnaill’s poems are in Irish, with English translations by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin and Medbh McGuckian. These poems present other convergences, particularly the mingling of mythology with modern life as in today’s poem.
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “Finit” by Máire Mhac an tSaoi
Finit Le seans a chuala uathu scéala an chleamhnais Is b’ait liom srian le héadroime na gaoithe— Do bhís chomh hanamúil léi, chomh domheabhartha, Chomh fiáin léi, is chomh haonraic, mar ba chuimhin liom. Féach feasta go bhfuil dála cháich i ndán duit, Cruatan is coitinne, séasúr go céile, Ag éalú i ndearúd le hiompú…
Continue ReadingThe Miraculous Máire Mhac an tSaoi
Wake Forest Press will publish The Miraculous Parish, a bilingual volume of Máire Mhac an tSaoi’s poetry this May. An activist and visionary, Mhac an tSaoi has paved the way for such female literary giants as Eavan Boland, Medbh McGuckian, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, and Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill. The Miraculous Parish solidifies her reputation as the…
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “An fuath”/”Hatred” by Máire Mhac an tSaoi
Hatred demands patience and deadened senses,
Hatred waits for its chance;
Hatred keeps a steady finger on the trigger
And won’t pull it till it sees the whites of the eyes
Like egg-whites-whites in its sights!
What’s Irish for “Merry Christmas to You”?
(Celtic Knot Christmas Wreath from the very impressive Nacho Grandma’s Quilts. Check out the other Celtic Knot designs while you’re there.) Nollaig shona duit! (Say “null-ig hun-nuh dit.”) “Nollaig” (which also means “Christmas” in Scottish Gaelic) derives from the Latin “natalica” for “birthday” and can sometimes be used as a personal name, like “Noel.” We hope…
Continue ReadingNuala Ní Dhomhnaíll featured on passport
Ireland revealed its new passport design on Monday, and people are talking. The majority of the media hype revolves around the borderless map of Ireland on page three. The map’s subtle disregard of Ireland’s political north-south divide in favour of the topographical depiction of the island as a whole is meant to emphasize citizenship over territoriality, a spokesman…
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “Ceist na Teangan / The Language Issue” by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill
This week has been a pretty exciting one for everyone involved in publishing and literary studies here at Wake Forest. After two years of planning, the University is finally hosting its “Words Awake!” celebration of Wake Forest writers! The three day event will focus on recognizing the achievements of Wake Forest writers past and present while also…
Continue ReadingDid you know…
Poet and Belfast native Ciaran Carson was raised as a native Irish speaker by his parents, who were NOT raised as native speakers, but … here is how Carson explains it in a 2004 remembrance of his father, a postman who was also an Esperanto speaker: It was in the Belfast GPO [General Post Office]…
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