Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin

Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin
Born1942 (age 83–84)
Cork, Ireland
EducationUniversity College Cork
University of Oxford
OccupationsPoet, academic
TitleIreland Professor of Poetry
Term2016–2019
SpouseMacdara Woods
RelativesEilís Dillon (mother)
Writing career
LanguageIrish, English

Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin (pronounced [əˈlʲeːnˠ n̠ʲiː ˈxɪl̠ʲənˠaːnʲ]; born 1942) is an Irish poet and academic. She was the Ireland Professor of Poetry from 2016 to 2019.

Biography

Ní Chuilleanáin was born in Cork in 1942, the daughter of Eilís Dillon and Professor Cormac Ó Cuilleanáin. She was educated at University College Cork and the University of Oxford. She lived in Dublin with her late husband Macdara Woods; they have one son, Niall Woods.

She is a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin 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.

Alongside Pearse Hutchinson, Macdara Woods and Leland Bardwell, Ní Chuilleanáin was founding editor at Cyphers literary magazine, which ran from 1975 to 2025. She has contributed several recitations of her poems, including 'Small' (written after the death of Pearse Hutchinson), 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 and was shortlisted for the Poetry Now Award. In 2016, she was appointed Ireland Professor of Poetry by the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins.

Publications

Poetry collections

Ní Chuilleanáin publishes with the Gallery Press in Ireland and Wake Forest University Press in the United States.

Translations

In addition to the above, Ní Chuilleanáin's poetry is widely anthologised.

Selected academic writing

Exhibitions

Notes and references

  1. ↑ "Current Professor | Ireland Chair of Poetry". Archived from the original on 9 March 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  2. ↑ "Foo" (PDF). Department of Education. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 June 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  3. ↑ "Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin - Current Member | Aosdana". aosdana.artscouncil.ie. Archived from the original on 7 July 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  4. ↑ "Cyphers Magazine - News". cyphers.ie. Retrieved 16 February 2026.
  5. ↑ "Poetry Readings A-C - Irish Poetry Reading Archive - LibGuides at UCD Library". Libguides.ucd.ie. 18 March 2003. Archived from the original on 17 November 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  6. ↑ http://www.poetryireland.ie/news/president-michael-d.-higgins-announces-new-ireland-professor-of-poetry [dead link]
  7. ↑ "Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin". The Gallery Press. Archived from the original on 22 June 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  8. ↑ "Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin | Irish Poet Published by Wake Forest University Press". Wfupress.wfu.edu. 21 June 2013. Archived from the original on 11 June 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  9. ↑ Web page titled "Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin" Archived 19 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine at Poetry International website, accessed 3 May 2008
  10. ↑ Dublin, Trinity College. "New digital archive captures the artistic legacy of the Irish border". www.tcd.ie. Retrieved 27 November 2024.

Further reading