Irish and Native American poets launch The Willow's Whisper
Thursday, February 16th 2012 at 7pm
at Glucksman Ireland House NYU
Celebrate two unique poetic traditions with a glimpse of where they meet and diverge. Irish poets Colm Breathnach, Proinsias Mac a'Bhaird and Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh, and notable Indigenous American poets Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, Odi Gonzales and Travis Hedge Coke read excerpts of their poetry from the compilation The Willow's Whisper: A Transatlantic Compilation of Poetry from Ireland and Native America.
In The Willow's Whisper editor Jill M. O'Mahony brings the voices of 35 poets from Irish and Indigenous American communities together in one volume. This poetry engages questions of culture in many different ways, including the importance of maintaining a unique cultural heritage and the difficulties of incorporating elements of alternative cultures into one's own.
The distinctive nature of this compilation lies in each poet's cultural situation; as a poet creating cultural artifacts between two or more societies they have the benefit of an insight into both the 'traditional' way of life and the society they live within, in perhaps, a Postcolonial state.
Presented, in part, with support from Culture Ireland.
Introduction by Prof. Joe Lee, Director of Glucksman Ireland House NYU, and Jill M. O'Mahony, Editor.
About the Participants:
- Colm Breathnach was born Cork City in 1961 and is four times winner of the Oireachtas premier prize for poetry in Irish.
- Allison Adelle Hedge Coke is an American Book Award-winning poet of mixed ancestry, including Wendat, Huron, Metis, Tsalagi, Creek, French Canadian, Portuguese, Irish, Scottish, and English.
- Travis Hedge Coke teaches writing at the University of Nebraska, Kearney. He is of Huron, Choctaw, Cherokee, and Creek descent.
- Odi Gonzales teaches Quechua at New York University. He writes in Quechua and Spanish, and is the author of numerous books of poetry.
- Proinsias Mac a'Bhaird writes poetry, fiction and children's books. He has won prizes at the Oireachtas for his plays and novels for children.
- Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh's poems have appeared in An Guth, Feasta, Crannóg and Poetry Ireland Review. As well as poetry, Ailbhe writes articles for 'Beocheist' in The Irish Times.
- Jill M. O'Mahony, Editor of The Willow's Whisper, is a lecturer in Sociology in the Waterford Institute of Technology.