“September came in with golden days and silver nights,”
- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
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!
So shocked and unbelievably delighted to be shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction's Discoveries 2022 Award!!!
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.
Over the moon to be able to share this essay on the seriously overlooked work of Meath poet Francis Ledwidge.
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.
the butcher. the ripper. the surgeon.
the Haruspex
Lá fhéile Bríde sona daoibh! Tá an tEarrach linn.
Irish writer and academic. Sí/í. Literary agent ~ Sabhbh Curran, Curtis Brown Books
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