Centre for Irish Studies Newsletter

Nuachtlitir Ionad an Léinn Éireannaigh                       Issue 12   Spring/Summer 2012

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The Miracle of the Parish: Máire Mhac an tSaoi symposium held at NUI Galway

 
              Máire Mhac an tSaoi

On Wednesday 23 May, the Centre for Irish Studies at NUI Galway hosted a symposium on the work of Máire Mhac an tSaoi, one of the most significant Irish poets of the twentieth century, and the most important living poet in Irish. With Máirtín Ó Direáin and Seán Ó Ríordáin, she revolutionised the practice of poetry in Irish in the 1940s and 50s and paved the way for a new generation of women poets who emerged in Irish and in English in the 1970s and 80s. A generation before Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill and Eavan Boland, and in more difficult circumstances, Máire Mhac an tSaoi gave voice to the intimate and subversive aspects of women’s experience in poems that challenged the moral orthodoxies of the time.

’Although her work and influence is acknowledged by poets and critics alike,’ according to Louis de Paor, Director of the Centre for Irish Studies, ’this is the first such event dedicated entirely  to her work and includes contributions from some of the finest scholars and critics of poetry in Irish. Given her connection with the University where she was appointed Honorary Professor of Irish Studies in 2004, and her uncle Monsignor Pádraig de Brún, served with such distinction as president, we are delighted to recognise her unique contribution to Irish writing.’

Máire Mhac an tSaoi’s autobiography The Same Age as the State, published in 2003, was described by Seamus Heaney as ’thrilling and exemplary’ and a bilingual selection of her poems An Paróiste Míorúilteach/The Miraculous Parish was launched by Fiach Mac Conghail, Director of the Abbey Theatre, at a gala event in Dublin Castle in November 2011.

Invited speakers at the NUI Galway symposium included Michéal Mac Craith, Margaret Mac Curtain, Máire Ní Annracháin, Caoimhín Mac Giolla Léith, Ríóna Ní Fhrighil, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin and Patricia Coughlan, and the proceedings were recorded by RTÉ radio for broadcast later in the year.

Míorúilt an pharóiste: comhdháil lae ar fhilíocht Mháire Mhac an tSaoi - 23 Bealtaine 2012

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