Doireann Ní Ghríofa: A Ghost in the Throat

The narrator in Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s A Ghost in the Throat is acutely conscious that she’s occupying a female body, and that her body is itself a kind of ‘female text’ that bears witness to her life experiences. But A Ghost in the Throat is also a female text because its narrator is striving to uncover the life of an 18th century Irish poet, Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill, whose story has been occluded. In this book, a literary hybrid encompassing elements of biography, autofiction, and scholarship, Ní Ghríofa brings the voice of Eibhlín Dubh back to life in a manner that is frank about her own everyday existence, including the ebbs and flows of desire, and the humdrum routines of motherhood. She joins us in Edinburgh to present sections from a live reading with accompanying visuals by filmmaker Tadhg O’Sullivan and a soundscape by composer Linda Buckley, created with the Midsummer Festival in Cork. The event is chaired by freelance producer, and director of Push the Boat Out poetry festival Jenny Niven.

This event was filmed live at the 2021 Edinburgh International Book Festival. The author took part remotely while the interviewer was on stage, in the venue.