Éilís Ní Dhuibhne (; born 22 February 1954), also known as Eilis Almquist and Elizabeth O'Hara, is an Irish novelist and short story writer who writes both in Irish and English. She has been shortlisted for the

Orange Prize for Fiction The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 and 2009–2012), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017) is one of the United Kingdom's ...

, and is a recipient of the Irish PEN Award.

Biography

Ní Dhuibhne was born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

in 1954. She attended

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

(UCD), where she studied Pure English for her BA, did an M Phil in Middle English and Old Irish, and finished in 1982 with a PhD in Folklore She was awarded the UCD Entrance scholarship for English, and two post-graduate scholarships in Folklore. In 1978-9 she studied at the Folklore Institute in the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

while researching her doctoral thesis, and in 1982 was awarded a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from the

National University of Ireland The National University of Ireland (NUI) () is a federal university system of ''constituent universities'' (previously called '' constituent colleges'') and ''recognised colleges'' set up under the Irish Universities Act 1908, and signifi ...

(NUI). About her time in Denmark, Ní Dhuibhne states that she "kind of discovered feminism there", because it "was more liberal and advanced politically and in terms of feminism". She has worked in the Department of Irish Folklore in UCD, and for many years as a curator in the

National Library of Ireland The National Library of Ireland (NLI; ) is Ireland's national library located in Dublin, in a building designed by Thomas Newenham Deane. The mission of the National Library of Ireland is "To collect, preserve, promote and make accessible the ...

. Also a teacher of Creative Writing, she has been Writer Fellow at

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

and is currently Writer Fellow at UCD. She is a member of Aosdána since 2004, an ambassador for the Irish Writers' Centre, and President of the Folklore of Ireland Society (An Cumann le Béaloideas Éireann). Ní Dhuibhne is the Burns Visiting Scholar at

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

for the fall 2020 semester. Ní Dhuibhne was married to the Swedish folklorist Bo Almqvist for 30 years until he died suddenly due to a short illness in 2013. She has two children: Ragnar and Olaf. Éilís Ní Dhuibne wrote the memoir ''Twelve Thousand Days: A Memoir of Love and Loss'' about her and her late husband's time together, named after the number of days they were married. Further information on Éilís Ní Dhuibhne's work may be found in Rebecca Pelan, ed, ''Éilís Ní Dhuibhne: Perspectives.'' Galway, Arlen House, 2009.

Awards

* 1985 Listowel Poetry Award * Oireachtas Awards for a play and novels * Butler Prose Award (American Association of Irish Studies) * Bisto Merit Awards for ''The Hiring Fair'' and ''Hurlamaboc'', and Bisto Book of the Year Award for ''Blaeberry Sunday'' * 1986 Arts Council Bursaries * 1998 Arts Council Bursaries * 1997 BBC Irish Language Award * 2000

, shortlisted for ''The Dancers Dancing'' * 2014 Hennessy Literature Award * 2015 Irish PEN Award * 2019 BBC Irish Language Award

List of works

;Novels in English * ''The Bray House'' (1990) * ''Singles'' (1994) * ''The Dancers Dancing'' (1999) * ''Fox, Swallow, Scarecrow'' (2007) * ''Sister Caravaggio'' (2014) ;Novels in Irish * ''Dúnmharú sa Daingean'' (2001) * ''Cailíní Beaga Ghleann na mBláth'' (2003) * ''Hurlamaboc'' (2005) * ''Dún an Airgid'' (2008) * ''Dordán'' (2011) * ''Aisling nó Iníon A'' (2015) ;Collections * ''Blood and Water'' (1988) * ''Eating Women Is Not Recommended'' (1991) * ''The Inland Ice'' (1997) * ''The Pale Gold of Alaska'' (2000) * ''Midwife to the Fairies'' (2003) * ''The Shelter of Neighbours'' (2012) * ''Little Red and Other Stories'' (2020) ;Children's Books * ''The Uncommon Cormorant'' (1990) * ''Hugo and the Sunshine Girl'' (1991) * ''The Hiring Fair'' (1992) * ''Blaeberry Sunday'' (1993) * ''Penny Farthing Sally'' (1996) * ''The Sparkling Rain'' (2004) * ''Snobs, Dogs and Scobies'' (2011) ;Plays * ''Dún na mBan Trí Thine''
Produced by Amharclann de hÍde and first performed at the Peacock, Dublin, 1995; * ''Milseog an tSamhraidh''
Produced by Amharclann de hÍde and first performed at the Samuel Beckett Theatre, Trinity College, in 1996; * ''The Nettle Shirts''
Produced by the Abbey and performed at the Peacock Theatre, Dublin, in 1998. ;Memoirs * ''Twelve Thousand Days: A Memoir of Love and Loss'' (2018)

References

External links

*
Irish AuthorsUCD page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ni Dhuibhne, Eilis 1954 births 20th-century Irish women writers 21st-century Irish women writers Living people Alumni of University College Dublin Aosdána members Fellows of Trinity College Dublin Irish women novelists Academics of University College Dublin University of Copenhagen alumni Irish-language writers Irish PEN Award for Literature winners