Although Irish has been used as a literary language for more than 1,500 years, and modern literature in Irish dates – as in most European languages – to the 16th century, modern Irish literature owes much of its popularity to the 19th century Gaelic Revival cultural movement. Writers in Irish have since produced some of the most interesting literature to come out of Ireland, supplemented by work produced in the language abroad.
Connemara is a region on the Atlantic coast of western County Galway, in the west of Ireland. The area has a strong association with traditional Irish culture and contains much of the Connacht Irish-speaking Gaeltacht, which is a key part of the identity of the region and is the largest Gaeltacht in the country. Historically, Connemara was part of the territory of Iar Connacht. Geographically, it has many mountains, peninsulas, coves, islands and small lakes. Connemara National Park is in the northwest. It is mostly rural and its largest settlement is Clifden.
Máirtín Ó Cadhain was one of the most prominent Irish language writers of the twentieth century. Perhaps best known for his 1949 novel Cré na Cille, Ó Cadhain played a key role in reintroducing literary modernism into modern literature in Irish, where it had been dormant since the 1916 execution of Patrick Pearse. Politically, Ó Cadhain was an Irish republican and anti-clerical Marxist, who promoted the Athghabháil na hÉireann, . Ó Cadhain was also a member of the post-Civil War Irish Republican Army and was interned by the Irish Army in the Curragh Camp with Brendan Behan and many other IRA members during the Emergency.
Connacht Irish is the dialect of the Irish language spoken in the province of Connacht. Gaeltacht regions in Connacht are found in Counties Mayo and Galway. Connacht Irish is also spoken in the Meath Gealtacht Ráth Chairn and Baile Ghib. The dialects of Irish in Connacht are extremely diverse, with the pronunciation, forms and lexicon being different even within each county.
Caitlín Maude was an Irish poet, language revival activist, teacher, actress and traditional singer.
Gabriel Rosenstock is an Irish writer who works chiefly in the Irish language. A member of Aosdána, he is poet, playwright, haikuist, tankaist, essayist, and author/translator of over 180 books, mostly in Irish. Born in Kilfinane, County Limerick, he currently resides in Dublin.
Louis de Paor is a well-known poet in the Irish language. Born in Cork in 1961 and educated at Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh, de Paor edited the Irish-language journal Innti, founded in 1970 by Michael Davitt, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Liam Ó Muirthile and Gabriel Rosenstock. He was awarded a PhD in Modern Irish from the National University of Ireland in 1986 for his thesis on Máirtín Ó Cadhain.
Seán Ó Tuama was an Irish poet, playwright and academic.
Mary O'Malley is an Irish poet whose work has been published in various literary magazines. She has published seven poetry books since 1990 and her poems have been translated into several languages.
Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh is an Irish poet who writes in the Irish language. Born in Tralee, County Kerry, in 1984, she graduated from NUI Galway in 2005 with a BA in Irish and French. She spent time in Bordeaux, France, before returning to Ireland to do an MA in Modern Irish, again at NUI Galway.
Cathal Ó Searcaigh, is a modern Irish language poet. His work has been widely translated, anthologised and studied. "His confident internationalism", according to Theo Dorgan, has channeled "new modes, new possibilities, into the writing of Irish language poetry in our time".
Biddy Jenkinson is an Irish poet, short story writer and dramatist who writes in the Irish language. She was born in 1949 in Dublin and attended University College Cork. She has published several collections of verse, two collections of short stories and two plays.
Doireann Ní Ghríofa is an Irish poet and essayist who writes in both Irish and English.
Pádraig Mac Fhearghusa is an Irish language poet, magazine editor and language activist.
Eithne Strong was a bilingual Irish poet and writer who wrote in both Irish and English. Her first poems in Irish were published in Combhar and An Glor 1943-44 under the name Eithne Ni Chonaill. She was a founder member of the Runa Press whose early Chapbooks featured artwork by among others Jack B. Yeats, Sean Keating, Sean O'Sullivan, Harry Kernoff among others. The press was noted for the publication in 1943 of Marrowbone Lane by Robert Collis which depicts the fierce fighting that took place during the Easter Rising of 1916.
Áine Ní Ghlinn is a bilingual Irish journalist, poet, playwright and children's writer. She is the current Laureate na nÓg, 2020—2023, the first to write exclusively in Irish.
Dairena Ní Chinnéide is an Irish poet and former broadcast journalist, interpreter, television producer and mother. She has published 12 books of mainly bilingual poetry in her native Irish language and one in English whose title is 'deleted' published by Salmon Poetry. One of her well known poems is Jeaic ar Scoil. She has received numerous awards for her writing, including The Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh Fellowship, The Arts Council of Ireland and Éalaíon na Gaeltachta Literature Awards and was nominated Poet Laureate for Listowel during the Poetry Ireland initiative, Poetrytown 2021.
Cliodhna Cussen (1932-2022) was an Irish sculptor, artist and author. She was born in Newcastle West, County Limerick in 1932 to a prominent local family and died on August 2nd 2022. She was married to Pádraig Ó Snodaigh, a poet, writer and publisher. She was mother of Sinn Féin TD for Dublin South Central Aengus Ó Snodaigh.
Brighid Nic Gearailt was an Irish poet and noblewoman.
Deirdre Brennan is a bilingual Irish poet, playwright and short story writer who writes both in the Irish language and in English.
