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, a cultural and language revival movement, and to the efforts of more recent poets and writers. In an act of literary decolonization common to many other peoples seeking self-determination, writers in Irish have taken the advice of Patrick Pearse and have combined influences from both their own literary history and the whole of world literature. Writers in Modern Irish have accordingly produced some of the most interesting literature to come out of Ireland, while being both supplemented and influenced by poetry and prose composed in the Irish language outside Ireland.
Eavan Aisling Boland was an Irish poet, author, and professor. She was a professor at Stanford University, where she had taught from 1996. Her work deals with the Irish national identity, and the role of women in Irish history. A number of poems from Boland's poetry career are studied by Irish students who take the Leaving Certificate. She was a recipient of the Lannan Literary Award for Poetry.
William "Bill" Wall is an Irish novelist, poet and short story writer.
Colm Tóibín is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist, critic, playwright and poet.
Mary Dorcey is an Irish author and poet, feminist, and LGBT+ activist. Her work is known for centring feminist and queer themes, specifically lesbian love and lesbian eroticism.
Medbh McGuckian is a poet from Northern Ireland.
Nuala Holloway is an Irish artist and teacher and former actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Ireland International 1975.
Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill is a leading Irish poet and highly important figure in Modern literature in Irish.
Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, also known as Eilis Almquist and Elizabeth O'Hara, is an Irish novelist and short story writer who writes both in Irish and English. She has been shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, and is a recipient of the Irish PEN Award.
Nuala Ní Chonchúir is an Irish writer and poet.
Mary Morrissy is an Irish novelist and short story writer. She writes on art, fiction, and history. Morrissy is an elected member of Aosdána, Ireland's academy of artists and writers.
The Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award is an Irish poetry award for a collection of poems by an author who has not previously been published in collected form. It is confined to poets born on the island of Ireland, or who have Irish nationality, or are long-term residents of Ireland. It is based on an open competition whose closing date is in July each year. The award was founded by the Patrick Kavanagh Society in 1971 to commemorate the poet.
Celia de Fréine is a poet, playwright, screenwriter and librettist who writes in Irish and English.
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".
Siobhan Campbell is an Irish poet and critic. She is the author of six poetry collections. Campbell has developed creative writing workshops for military veterans as well as story-gathering protocols for work with refugees. Her recent research into creative writing as social practice has led her to work with patients in palliative care. Educated at University College Dublin and at Lancaster University, Campbell also pursued post-graduate study at NYU and the New School, New York City. Campbell is on faculty at The Open University, Dept. of English.
Belinda McKeon is an Irish writer. She is the author of two novels, Solace, which won the 2011 Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, and Tender (2015).
Nessa O'Mahony is an Irish poet and a freelance teacher and writer.
Máighréad Medbh is an Irish writer and poet.
Deirdre Brennan is a bilingual Irish poet, playwright and short story writer who writes both in the Irish language and in English.
Beda Higgins is a poet and writer living in Newcastle upon Tyne.
