Ní chuireann sí fiacail ann | She tells it straight

Áine Ní Ghlinn and Rita Ann Higgins speak truth, in Irish and English, through bold, unsentimental poems. From silence, survival and loss, to class, wit, and cultural memory, they challenge and provoke.

Insíonn Áine Ní Ghlinn agus Rita Ann Higgins an fhírinne, i nGaeilge agus i mBéarla. Trí dhánta loma, láidre, tugann siad dúshlán, cruthaíonn siad spás, agus tugann siad guth dóibh siúd a dtugtar an chluas bhodhar dóibh go rómhinic. Join us for a bilingual reading and conversation, where the poets join author and Laureate for Irish Fiction Éilís Ní Dhuibhne.

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Laureate na nÓg (2020–2023), Áine Ní Ghlinn is an Irish-language poet and award-winning author of over 30 books for children and adults. Her poetry explores identity and social issues with courage and insight. Her latest collection is the anthology Dánta: Idir Shean agus Nua | New and Collected Poems with translations by Theo Dorgan (Cló Iar-Chonnacht, 2025).

Laureate na nÓg ó 2020 go 2023, is file agus scríbhneoir í Áine Ní Ghlinn a bhfuil os cionn 30 leabhar foilsithe aici do pháistí agus do dhaoine fásta. Déanann sí iniúchadh ar cheisteanna sóisialta agus féiniúlachta ina cuid filíochta. Is é an cnuasach is deireanaí uaithi ná Dánta Idir Shean agus Nua | New and Collected Poems with translations by Theo Dorgan (Cló Iar-Chonnacht, 2025).

Rita Ann Higgins is an award-winning Galway poet whose sharp, witty, and politically charged work gives voice to class, gender, and marginalised lives in contemporary Ireland with honesty and humour. Her upcoming collection is Jiving with Wasps: New and Collected Poems, which Bloodaxe Books will publish in March 2026.

File as a Gaillimh í Rita Ann Higgins a bhfuil go leor gradam buaite aici as a saothar. Pléann a saothar go géarchúiseach agus go tráthúil le ceisteanna a bhaineann le polaitíocht aicme agus saol na mban, is tugann glór do dhaoine ar an imeall.

Éilís Ní Dhuibhne was born in Dublin in 1954. She was educated at University College Dublin (UCD) studied Pure English for her BA and Irish Folklore for her PhD. Her first short story was published in 1974 and since then she has written several novels in both English and Irish. She is also the author of five short story collections and four children’s books as well as three plays. Currently Éilís is Writer Fellow in UCD, where she teaches MA-level Creative Writing. She is a member of Aosdána and has just been appointed the Laureate for Irish Fiction.

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