A Ghost in the Throat
Doireann Ní Ghríofa
2020 • Tramp Press
It felt important to weave Eibhlín Dubh’s own words, in her own voice – as fossilised within her extraordinary poem Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire – throughout the text of this book. I wanted readers to find her voice alongside mine, to have the sense of both voices occurring simultaneously, like a duet. I hoped that such an approach would decrease the reader’s sense of the distance between our lives, despite the fact that one voice speaks from the 18th century and the other from the 21st.
— Doireann Ní Ghríofa
Listen on RadioMoLI
Dublin Review Podcast
A Ghost in the Throat
Doireann Ní Ghríofa
2020 • Tramp Press
It felt important to weave Eibhlín Dubh’s own words, in her own voice – as fossilised within her extraordinary poem Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire – throughout the text of this book. I wanted readers to find her voice alongside mine, to have the sense of both voices occurring simultaneously, like a duet. I hoped that such an approach would decrease the reader’s sense of the distance between our lives, despite the fact that one voice speaks from the 18th century and the other from the 21st.
— Doireann Ní Ghríofa
Description
A true original, this stunning prose debut by Doireann Ní Ghríofa weaves two stories together. In the 1700s, an Irish noblewoman, on discovering her husband has been murdered, drinks handfuls of his blood and composes an extraordinary poem that reaches across the centuries to another poet. In the present day, a young mother narrowly avoids tragedy in her own life. On encountering the poem, she becomes obsessed with finding out the rest of the story. A devastating and timeless tale about finding your voice by freeing another’s.
On RadioMoLI
Dublin Review Podcast
Excerpts
Interviews
- The Journal: ‘“It's so Astounding that a Woman can Disappear to that Extent” - Rediscovering the Author of Ireland's Greatest Love Poem’
- Irish Examiner: ‘A Ghost in the Throat has “a Strong Sense of Female Tradition”’
- Irish Independent: “‘She's there in that Gathering of Ghosts I carry with me” - Author Doireann Ní Ghríofa on the 18th Century Poet who has Haunted her Since her Teens’
- Eolas: Doireann Ní Ghríófa – A Ghost in the Throat (Bilingual Interview)
- Shauna Gilligan Writer: Writers Chat 33 – Doireann Ní Ghríofa
Prizes & Awards
Reviews
- Emma Flynn, The Stinging Fly
- Aoife O’Regan, RTÉ
- Justine Carbery, The Irish Independent
- Sarah Gilmartin, The Irish Times
- Clíona Ní Ríordáin, Dublin Review of Books
- Alice Wickenden, Totally Dublin
- Mia Colleran, The Irish Independent
- Selina Guinness, Business Post
- Bert Wright, The Times
- Hannah Green, The Cardiff Review
- Beth O’Rafferty, Severine
- Allison McCausland, Drizzle Review
- The Paris Review
Audio
- Irish Times Women’s Podcast: A Ghost in the Throat – Doireann Ní Ghríofa
- City of Books: #17 Haunted by the Ghost
- The Book Show: With Michelle Gallen and Doireann Ní Ghríofa
- Motherfoclóir: #153 Ghosts and Dark Flames – Doireann Ní Ghríofa
- The Dublin Review Podcast: Doireann Ní Ghríofa
- Inside Books: Doireann Ní Ghríofa
- The Your Shelf Podcast: #11 Prose Book of the Year 2020 with Doireann Ní Ghríofa
- Motherfoclóir: #146 A Fine Bed-Mate – The Story of ‘Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire
Video
- Foyles: Doireann Ní Ghríofa Introduces A Ghost in the Throat
- Dox on Air: Museum of Literature Ireland - Doireann Ní Ghríofa reading from A Ghost in the Throat (Followed by Czech Translation)
- Cúirt Festival: A Ghost in the Throat: Doireann Ní Ghríofa
- Rick O’Shea: Shelf Analysis - Episode 43 - Doireann Ní Ghríofa
- Imagine Arts Festival Waterford: Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa
- Red Line Book Festival: Doireann Ní Ghríofa in Conversation with Deirdre Sullivan
- West Cork Literary Festival: Sara Baume & Doireann Ní Ghríofa
- Dublin Book Festival: Doireann Ní Ghríofa's 'A Ghost in the Throat' - Review & Interview
- Dingle Lit: Doireann Ní Ghríofa Talking about Writing for Dingle Literary Festival 2020
