Tralee Woman Shortlisted For RTE’s ‘Poem For Ireland’ Campaign

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Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh is among ten shortlisted in the ‘Poem For Ireland’ campaign.

A TRALEE-BORN writer has had her poem selected for shortlist in the ‘Poem For Ireland’ campaign.

The campaign which is being run by RTÉ, is aimed at celebrating Irish poetry and in particular, the vast wealth of talent we have had in this area over the last 100 years.

When the polls opened in September on the ‘John Murray Show’ on RTÉ, Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh was one among many who hoped to make the cut. When it closed in November, she found herself amongst the final ten.

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Originally from Derrylea, Oakpark, Ailbhe was understandably delighted with the news when we got the chance to talk to her.

“It came as a big surprise! I’m thrilled, it’s all still kind of surreal really.”

Having taken a unique slant on the idea of urban poetry, we asked her how the idea for her poem came about.

“I was living in Bordeaux, I was teaching English over there about ten years ago. I was living in the city centre and it was probably the biggest city I had lived in at that point. I just really loved the buzz of the city and being so close to the action.”

“I wanted to write a poem in Irish about urban life because that isn’t often a theme you see in Irish language poetry or even in Irish poetry in general.”

Having been inspired by the famous line “Faoiseamh a gheobhadsa” by Máirtín Ó Direáin when he writes about his love for the Aran Islands, she took her own unique spin on that.

“I just really wanted to respond to that in my own way by saying that I loved living in the city,” she said.

With her poem ‘Filleadh ar an gCathair’ being one of two poems written in Irish that made the shortlist, with ‘Fill Arís’ by Seán Ó Ríordáin the other poem to make the cut, we took the chance to ask her about writing poetry in our native language and how she feels about the company she’s in with on the shortlist.

“There’s a lot of people out there writing poetry in Irish. In Kerry too, even people who wouldn’t be from the Gaeltacht. There’s a lot of it being written all over Ireland. There’s two Irish poems on the shortlist. There’s three women, there’s five living authors and five who are no longer with us, so it’s a nice cross section I think,” she said.

Ailbhe and her poem are in esteemed company on the ten poem strong shortlist with literary heavyweights such as Seamus Heaney, Derek Mahon, Patrick Kavanagh, Eavan Boland and W.B Yeats.

So, what does she think about her chances of winning?

“I’m not expecting to win it at all!” she laughs.

“It’s just such an honour to be on that shortlist you know, with the likes of Heaney, Yeats and Patrick Kavanagh. I’m not expecting at all to win it. It’s just great though for me personally, for the young people who write in Irish, and just really for the language itself.”

The final result will be declared in mid-March with the poems being featured on ‘The John Murray Show’ and on the RTÉ television series ‘The Works’.

You can read Ailbhe’s poem and get voting for it here!

 

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