Patricia Forde (born ) was former Director of the

Galway Arts Festival The Galway International Arts Festival (GIAF), founded in 1978, is a cultural organization that produces an annual arts festival in Galway, Ireland. It also produces new work that tours nationally and internationally, in addition to presenting ...

and an Irish children's author. Forde was raised in Market Street, Galway, a fluent

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 ...

speaker. She became a member of

An Taibhdhearc An Taibhdhearc is the national Irish language theatre of Ireland. It was founded in 1928. The word ''taibhdhearc'' appears as a gloss for the Latin ''teatrum'' (theatre) in an old Irish document, derived from roots meaning "dream" and "glance ...

at age ten, both acting and directing its plays over the following ten years. She spent ten years as a primary school teacher, and was one of the early members of

Macnas Macnas (Irish for 'frolicking') is a performance company based at the Fisheries Field in Galway, Ireland. Its public performances are noted for being "pioneering, inventive and radical" in style. The company has been credited with changing the ...

. Macnas co-founder, Pádraic Breathnach, encouraged her work on stories for Macnas's street performances. While working with Macnas she took a year's leave from teaching to write her first book, ''Tír faoi Thoinn''. However, an opportunity to become Director of the

(proposed by Ollie Jennings in 1990) meant that she never returned to teaching. She left in 1995, subsequently working in ''

Ros na Rún () is an Irish soap opera produced for the Irish-language television channel TG4. The series is set in a fictional village called Ros Na Rún, located near to An Spidéal, and focuses on the domestic and professional lives of its residents. ' ...

'', ''

Aifric ''Aifric'' () is an Irish-language TV series aimed at young adults, co-created and written by Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin and co-created and directed by Paul Mercier. The show has won multiple IFTA awards for "Best Children's/Youth Program". The fir ...

'' and

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

soap ''

Fair City ''Fair City'' is an Irish television soap opera which has been broadcast on RTÉ One since 1989. Produced by the public service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), it first aired on Monday, 18 September 1989. It has won several award ...

''. Forde's other work has included a creative programme for children at the festival, which developed into th
Baboró International Arts Festival for Children
She is married with two children and lives in

Moycullen Moycullen ( ga, Maigh Cuilinn) is a Gaeltacht village in County Galway, Ireland, about 10 km (7 mi) northwest of Galway city. It is near Lough Corrib, on the N59 road to Oughterard and Clifden, in Connemara. Moycullen is now a satel ...

Bibliography

* ''Tír faoi Thoinn''/''Land Under the Sea'', 1990 * ''The King’s Secret'', O’Brien Press, 1992 * ''Frogs Do Not Like Dragons'', Egmont, March 2010 *''Hedgehogs Do Not Like Heights'', Egmont, 2011 *''Ceitidh Ceare'', 2011 *''Binji: Madra Ar Strae'', 2011 *''The Wordsmith / The List'', Little Island Books, 2014 *''Witches Do Not Like Bicycles,'' Egmont, 2015 *''Bumpfizzle The Best on Planet Earth'', Little Island Books, June 2018

External links

* http://www.galwayindependent.com/profiles/profiles/patricia-forde-%11-author/ * http://www.obrien.ie/author.cfm?authorID=80 * https://web.archive.org/web/20101127115936/http://galwaynews.ie/12205-author-patricias-got-write-stuff * http://en.wordpress.com/tag/patricia-forde/

References

* ''Macnas: Joyful Abandonment'', Terry Dineen, The Liffy Press, November 2007. 1905785283 {{DEFAULTSORT:Forde, Patricia Writers from Galway (city) Irish children's writers Irish schoolteachers Living people 20th-century Irish women writers 21st-century Irish women writers Irish women children's writers 1960 births