Irish language editor wins prestigious poetry award in Limerick

IRISH LANGUAGE poet and editor Aifric Mac Aodha has been named the winner of the 2025 Michael Hartnett Poetry Award for her bilingual poetry collection ‘Old Friends’ (The Gallery Press, 2024).

The award, which includes a prize of €8,000, will be presented on the opening night of Éigse Michael Hartnett 2025 in Newcastle West, Limerick on Thursday, October 2.

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.

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Mac Aodha’s collection was praised by judges Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhaigh and Louis de Paor as a "significant achievement."

The judging panel stated: “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.”

Responding to the achievement, 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,” added Mac Aodha.

Aifric is the Irish language editor of Poetry Ireland Review and has published widely in both Irish and English.

Her poetry has been translated into several languages including French, German, Spanish, and Czech.

She has also taught in St Petersburg, New York, and Canada, and has lectured in Irish at University College Dublin.

The Michael Hartnett Poetry Award, established in memory of the late Limerick poet, celebrates excellence in poetry written in either of Ireland’s two official languages.