Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin (; born 1942) is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

poet and academic. She was the Ireland Professor of Poetry (2016–19).

Biography

Ní Chuilleanáin was born in Cork in 1942. She is the daughter of

Eilís Dillon Eilís Dillon FRSL (7 March 1920 – 19 July 1994) was an Irish author of 50 books. Her work has been translated into 14 languages.

and Professor Cormac Ó Cuilleanáin. She was educated at

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one ...

and The

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. She lived in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

with her late husband

Macdara Woods Macdara Woods (1942 – 15 June 2018) was an Irish poet. Biography Woods was born in Dublin, where he attended Gonzaga College and then University College Dublin. He married the poet Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin. They had one son, Niall, a musician. ...

, and they have one son, Niall Woods. She is a Fellow of

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

and an emeritus professor of the School of English which she joined in 1966. Her broad academic interests (notably her specialism in Renaissance literature and her interest in translation) are reflected in her poetry. She retired from full-time teaching in 2011 and a selection of her poems are currently on the syllabus for the Leaving Certificate, the final state examination for secondary school students. Ní Chuilleanáin is a member of

Aosdána Aosdána ( , ; from , 'people of the arts') is an Irish association of artists. It was created in 1981 on the initiative of a group of writers with support from the country's Arts Council. Membership, which is by invitation from current member ...

. She is a founder of the literary magazine ''

Cyphers Cyphers may refer to: * ''Cyphers'' (magazine), Irish literary publication "Cyphers" is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Charles Cyphers Charles Cyphers (born July 28, 1939) is an American actor who is known in the horror ...

,'' alongside

Pearse Hutchinson Pearse Hutchinson (16 February 1927 – 14 January 2012) was an Irish poet, broadcaster and translator. Childhood and education Hutchinson was born in Glasgow. His father, Harry Hutchinson, a Scottish printer whose own father had left Dublin to ...

and Leland Bardwell. She continues to edit the magazine. She has contributed several recitations of her poems, including 'Small' (written after the death of

), to the Irish Poetry Reading Archive.

Awards

Ní Chuilleanáin's first collection won the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award in 1973. In 2010 ''The Sun-fish'' was the winner of the Canadian-based International

Griffin Poetry Prize The Griffin Poetry Prize is Canada's most generous poetry award. It was founded in 2000 by businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin. Before 2022, the awards went to one Canadian and one international poet who writes in the English language. ...

and was shortlisted for the

Poetry Now Award The Poetry Now Award is an annual literary prize presented for the best single volume of poetry by an Irish poet. The €5,000 award was first given in 2005 (reduced to €2,500 in 2013) and is presented during annual Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown ...

. In 2016, she was appointed Ireland Professor of Poetry by the President of Ireland,

Michael D. Higgins Michael Daniel Higgins ( ga, Mícheál Dónal Ó hUigínn; born 18 April 1941) is an Irish politician, poet, sociologist, and broadcaster, who has served as the ninth president of Ireland since November 2011. Entering national politics throug ...

Publications

Poetry collections

Ní Chuilleanáin published with The Gallery Press in Ireland and Wake Forest University Press in the United States. * 1972: ''Acts and Monuments'', Dublin: The Gallery Press. * 1975: ''Site of Ambush'', Dublin: The Gallery Press. * 1977: ''The Second Voyage'', Dublin: The Gallery Press; Winston-Salem, NC: Wake Forest University Press, 1977, 1991. * 1981: ''The Rose Geranium'', Dublin: The Gallery Press. * 1986: ''The Second Voyage'', Dublin: The Gallery Press; Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe Books; Winston-Salem, Wake Forest University Press, 1991. * 1989: ''The Magdalene Sermon'', Oldcastle: The Gallery Press (shortlisted for the ''

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

''/

Aer Lingus Aer Lingus ( ; an anglicisation of the Irish , meaning "air fleet" compare Welsh 'llynges awyr') is the flag carrier of Ireland. Founded by the Irish Government, it was privatised between 2006 and 2015 and it is now a wholly owned subsidiary ...

Award).Web page titled "Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin"
at Poetry International website, accessed 3 May 2008 * 1994: ''The Brazen Serpent'', Oldcastle: The Gallery Press; Winston-Salem, North Carolina: Wake Forest University Press, 1995. * 2001: ''The Girl Who Married the Reindeer'', Oldcastle: The Gallery Press;Winston-Salem, North Carolina: Wake Forest University Press, 2002. * 2008: ''Selected Poems'', Oldcastle: Gallery Press; London: Faber and Faber; Winston-Salem, North Carolina: Wake Forest University Press, 2009. * 2009: ''The Sun-fish'', Oldcastle: Gallery Press; Winston-Salem, NC: Wake Forest University Press, 2010 (winner of the 2010 International

). * 2015: ''The Boys of Bluehill'', Oldcastle: Gallery Press; Winston-Salem, NC: Wake Forest University Press.

Translations

* 1999: ''The Water Horse: Poems in Irish by

Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill (; born 1952) is a leading Irish poet. Biography Born in Lancashire, England, of Irish parents, she moved to Ireland at the age of 5 and was brought up in the Dingle Gaeltacht and in Nenagh, County Tipperary. Her uncle, Mo ...

with Translations into English by

Medbh McGuckian Medbh McGuckian (born as Maeve McCaughan on 12 August 1950) is a poet from Northern Ireland. Biography She was born the third of six children as Maeve McCaughan to Hugh and Margaret McCaughan in North Belfast. Her father was a school headmaster ...

and Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin'', Oldcastle: The Gallery Press; Winston-Salem, North Carolina: Wake Forest University Press, 2003. * 2005: ''Verbale'' by Michele Ranchetti, translated by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin and others, Dublin: Instituto Italiano di Cultura. * 2005: ''After the Raising of Lazarus: Poems Translated from the Romanian by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin'', poems by Ileana Mălăncioiu, Cork: Southword Editions. * 2010: Contributions in ''The Word Exchange: Anglo-Saxon Poems in Translation'', in Greg Delanty, Michael Matto eds., New York: W. W. Norton & Company. * 2010: ''Legend of the Walled Up Wife'' by Ileana Mălăncioiu, translated from the Romanian by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press. In addition to the above, Ní Chuilleanáin's poetry is widely anthologised.

Selected academic writing

* 2001: ''As I Was Among Captives: Joseph Campbell's Prison Diary, 1922-23'', Cork: Cork University Press. * 2003: ''The Wilde Legacy'', ed., Dublin: Four Courts Press. * 2010: ''Heresy and Orthodoxy in Early English Literature, 1350-1680'', ed., with John Flood, Dublin: Four Courts Press. * 2009: ''Translation and Censorship: Patterns of Communication and Interference'', ed., with Cormac Ó Cuilleanáin and David Parris, Dublin: Four Courts Press. * 2013: ''Translation, Right or Wrong'', ed., with Cormac Ó Cuilleanáin and Susana Bayó Belenguer, Dublin: Four Courts Press.

Notes and references

External links

Wake Forest University Press Web page
on Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin
Griffin Poetry Prize biography

Griffin Poetry Prize reading, including video clip

The Griffin Poetry Prize Questionnaire
with Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin in the ''National Post''
Poetry Foundation
* Poetry readings available i
the Irish Poetry Reading ArchiveUCD Digital LibraryUniversity College Dublin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ni Chuilleanain, Eilean 1942 births Living people 20th-century Irish people 21st-century Irish people Alumni of the University of Oxford Aosdána members Fellows of Trinity College Dublin Irish translators Irish women poets Academics of Trinity College Dublin Writers from Cork (city) Translators from Irish Translators from Old English Translators from Romanian Alumni of University College Cork