Literature
Aifric Mac Aodha announced as Michael Hartnett Poetry Award winner
Aifric Mac Aodha announced as Michael Hartnett Poetry Award winner. Photo via UCD Library Special Collections/Youtube
Aifric Mac Aodha has been announced as the 2025 Michael Hartnett Poetry Award winner for her third collection
Irish-language poet and editor Aifric Mac Aodha has been named the winner of the 2025 Michael Hartnett Poetry Award for her third collection, Old Friends.
Described by judges as “affecting” and “at times dark,” the collection marks a “significant achievement” in Mac Aodha’s poetic career. The poems are written in Irish, with English translations by fellow poet David Wheatley.
Judges Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhaigh and Louis de Paor praised the collection, stating, “There is an unmistakable linguistic assurance in these poems alongside an agility in poetic form, in which the narratives are often half-obscured beneath the surface of the poem, amplifying the mysteriousness and emotional sensitivity of the work.
advertisement
advertisement
advertisement
advertisement
“There is a sense that she is consistently expanding the resources of the language as she continues to sharpen her own poetic idiom. She has a particular gift for finding cadence between words in surprising ways.”
The award, worth €8,000, will be presented on the opening night of Éigse Michael Hartnett 2025, taking place on Thursday, 2 October in Newcastle West, Co. Limerick. The award is supported by Limerick City and County Council and Arts Council partnership framework agreement.
Responding to the announcement, Aifric Mac Aodha said, “It is a great pleasure and an even greater surprise to receive the Michael Hartnett Poetry Award. In his ‘Poem for Niall, 7’ – a poem full of love and humanity – Hartnett tells us that ‘ink speaks and paper speaks’.
“Poets can only say what they have to say through their poems, and poetry can be difficult to achieve. For those reasons, it means a great deal to me that the judges have chosen my collection, Old Friends. I am grateful to them, to the festival organisers, and to my translator, David Wheatley.”
Aifric Mac Aodha is the Irish-language editor of Poetry Ireland Review. Her debut collection, Gabháil Syrinx (The Taking of Syrinx), was published by An Sagart in 2010. Her work has appeared in numerous journals, including POETRY for Young Irish Poets, and has been translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Czech.
She has taught in St Petersburg, New York, and Canada, and has lectured in Old and Modern Irish at University College Dublin (UCD). She has received multiple bursaries from The Arts Council. Her latest collection, Old Friends, with translations by David Wheatley, was published by The Gallery Press in 2024. She lives in Dublin, where she works for the Irish-language publisher An Gúm.
David Wheatley, born in Dublin, has published four collections with The Gallery Press and two with Carcanet Press.
WATCH Gaelscoil an Ráithín call for support with VEX Robotics World Championship dream!
Kaleb Cooper brings hit live Q&A show to University Concert Hall on Thursday, April 2
The Joe Drennan Memorial Prize announced by University of Limerick and The Irish Times
Bon Secours Hospital Limerick official opening marks one of the largest healthcare investments in the region
Cook Medical supports ADAPT with more than €20,000 donation through charity partnership
5 events in Limerick this weekend, March 6 – March 8
Volunteer tradespeople unite to deliver home renovation project for 11-year-old Alex
‘DIY SOS: The Big Build Ireland’ rallying the troops for Westbury visit from March 23 to April 1
Patrick ‘Mul’ Moloney remembered as a kind-hearted man with a love for his family and music
