sadbhkellett
Irish writer and academic. Sí/í. Literary agent ~ Sabhbh Curran, Curtis Brown Books
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Latest Posts by sadbhkellett
A very happy publication day to my fellow Disco writer, the wonderful Emma van Straaten! This Immaculate Body is available now in a bookstore near you.
I finished the first draft of my current novel this week!
Don't tell Twitter, but this week I graduated from St. Andrews and am now officially a Doctor of Philosophy! My thesis looked at Gaelic mythology and its relationship with national identity in modern Irish and Scottish literature (including Irish language texts). Humanities ftw!
Comhghairdeas mór to my superhero of a supervisor Pàdraig MacAoidh (Peter Mackay) who was also appointed as the Makar of Scotland this week! So very deserved.
So pleased to have a poem in this beautiful anthology, and what a fantastic launch night it was in O'Connell House last Friday eve!
Had some film developed recently. A few hikes from the summer, namely around the Mournes and in Wicklow. A bonus photo of my friend Roberta on top of the well rock in Dunino Den in Fife – a powerful and ancient place that you could drive right past without ever knowing was there! The area was clearly of significance to the Picts given the carved stone footprint beside the natural well, the Pictish stone and the stairs hewn out of the rock itself. It's a beautiful area. Go if you ever get the chance!
“September came in with golden days and silver nights,”
- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
The average ulster cycle war: Medb wants a cow. Stop her getting a cow.
Compared to
The average fenian cycle war: A descendant of Balor from Scandinavia has invaded Ireland and placed a Gaes on Fionn to sleep with his wife. Meanwhile, Clan morna is mad at Clan Bascne over some meat, and the high king hates the power the fianna holds but also needs them to shoo off the foreign invaders. The only solution for all of these problems is to go on an island hopping adventure where various Tuatha de will join the fianna, and Mananaan will go on a boat. The Battle of Magh Tuireadh will, for some reason, be recounted, and the fianna will have to stay in a hostel where they will be ambushed. Several magical monsters. To kill the random Scandinavian king, fionn will have to get a sword forged by the classical god vulcan and / or the King of Alba and / or on the day of the birth of the guy they are going to kill this will require about 20 more adventures. However, this won't matter anyway because Diarmuid, Goll, or Osgar will kill the guy in single combat without these weapons anyway. Fionn will never actually sleep with the king's wife, but they will marry.
Last summer, I had the absolute privilege of discussing the elixir of feminism, Irish mythology, and Rossettian aesthetics that make up Katharine Tynan's poetic retelling of Tóraíocht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne at the Tate Britain. A highlight of 2023!
How the last few weeks of the thesis got me feeling rn
Nobody prepares you for the sheer horror that is the last month of your PhD
If anyone wants to know how the final months of my phd are going, I spent five hours yesterday evening listening to Dies Irae on repeat while translating and cross-comparing nineteenth century translations of early modern Irish texts just to adjust A SINGLE SENTENCE in my thesis.
Being a speaker of modern Irish who engages with earlier literature is just shouting 'leathan le leathan is caol le caol' at the dead and boy do they not hear
excited to finally publish the game i've spent the past few months steadily working on. it started off as a small project and ended up growing much bigger.
'Explore an abandoned underground city and find out what lies within its ruins.
You are Fareye, the leader of a group of adventurers tasked with exploring the famous ruined city of Elysis as penance for a heist gone wrong. What happened to this city, the reason for its abandonment, is a mystery. One that you will soon solve. Traverse through these ancient ruins with your party and discover what lurks within the shadows as you journey deeper and deeper beneath the earth.'
I just love this contemporary interpretation of Cú Chulainn by Smug One in Dundalk
Over the moon to be able to share this essay on the seriously overlooked work of Meath poet Francis Ledwidge.
Going to my eras tour Hozier tomorrow.
Loved having the opportunity to speak about Dante Gabriel Rossetti's influence on Katharine Tynan's work at the Rossettis: In Relation conference held at the Tate Britain last week! Go check out the fantastic exhibition 'The Rossettis: Radical Romantics' which runs until the 24th of September 2023.
My poem "Mr Keats is ill" features in VOL. 1: END of Tower Magazine. Available for purchase and/or download now!
New poem in Tower Vol I: End out May 15th!
Scribe to those assembled: SEd EGO QUi sCrIpsI hANc hiSTORIAm aUt UERiuS fabUlAM quIbUsdam FIDEM iN hac hiSTORia AUt FaBUlA NOn AcCoMModo. QUaeDam enIm ibi SUNt PrAEstRigia dEmOnuM, qUaeDaM AuTem figmEntA poETiCA, quaEdam SimILIA uErO, quaEdAM nOn, QUAEDAm aD dElECTaTiOnem sTULTorUm
everyone else (read: me) just here for a good time:
I just know the Book of Leinster/Recension II scribe was the Jenny Joyce of the twelfth century
I just know the Book of Leinster/Recension II scribe was the Jenny Joyce of the twelfth century
Lá fhéile Bríde sona daoibh! Tá an tEarrach linn.
the butcher. the ripper. the surgeon.
the Haruspex
The thing about lotr is that it spends so much time on describing trees because it’s actually about trees. And it’s also about languages and stories and songs and that’s why the songs are in there
It doesn’t make sense to say that Tolkien should have cut back on describing these things because all of them are part of the fundamental core of what lotr is and what it’s trying to do. It’s—fundamentally—just a poem about trees
You can read the opening of my shortlisted novel Hunt the Hare here! If anyone is thinking of going for Discoveries 2023 when entries open later this month, just do it!
I've loved being involved with the Morning Coffee Writing Competition this summer and today is our final day for submissions (we close at midnight Dublin time). If you have a 500-1000 word story up your sleeve or would simply like to donate, you can do so via this link. All proceeds go to the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and the winner will receive 200€ + publication in the next issue of Sonder Magazine!
Possibly revolutionary take:
I don’t think that not looking through the source material is something people should be bragging about when they write fanfiction about said material.
Sure, I totally get it if you can’t get access to the source for any number of reasons. But bragging about it? Dude, you’re just admitting your entire fanfic is based on fanon and fanon is a pale imitation of the original.
If it’s anything like the original at all…
Plato’s cave all over, everyone. Congrats.
Really and truly ar mhuin na muice to announce that I've signed with Sabhbh Curran at Curtis Brown. So excited to work on my debut novel with her!
Achilles
I
To them I am the brute not the lover
The raging king’s hound, his gold spear – death’s kiss
Was this the way, was there no other?
II
History, prayèrs did try to cover –
Those violent delights, and that violent bliss
- To them I am the brute not the lover.
III
Yet, if time would but only uncover
Those extra curves of your smiles that they miss – I miss.
Was this the way – was there no other?
IV
If the Prince of Troy did not hover over
My mind and your ghost – in debt to the Styx –
To them I am the brute not the lover!
V
They forget romeo, the pre-mover;
Was it for this you died, was it for this?
Alas, I am the brute. Not your lover.
Was this the way? Was there no other?
"Achilles" by Sadbh Kellett. First published in The Attic XX, 2017.