Éilís Ní Dhuibhne Explained

Éilís Ní Dhuibhne
Birth Date:	22 February 1954
Birth Place:	Dublin, Ireland
Pseudonym:	Eilis Almquist Elizabeth O'Hara
Occupation:	Writer, Academic
Nationality:	Irish
Alma Mater:	University College Dublin (UCD) University of Copenhagen
Genre:	Novel, Play, Short Story

Éilís Ní Dhuibhne (in Irish pronounced as /ˈeːlʲiːʃ n̠ʲiː ˈɣɪvʲnʲə/; born 22 February 1954), also known as Eilis Almquist and Elizabeth O'Hara, is an Irish novelist and short story writer who writes both in Irish and English. She has been shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, and is a recipient of the Irish PEN Award.

Biography

Ní Dhuibhne was born in Dublin in 1954. She attended University College Dublin (UCD), where she studied Pure English for her BA, did an M Phil in Middle English and Old Irish, and finished in 1982 with a PhD in Folklore ^[1] She was awarded the UCD Entrance scholarship for English, and two post-graduate scholarships in Folklore. In 1978-9 she studied at the Folklore Institute in the University of Copenhagen while researching her doctoral thesis,^[2] and in 1982 was awarded a PhD from the National University of Ireland (NUI). About her time in Denmark, Ní Dhuibhne states that she "kind of discovered feminism there", because it "was more liberal and advanced politically and in terms of feminism".^[3] She has worked in the Department of Irish Folklore in UCD, and for many years as a curator in the National Library of Ireland. Also a teacher of Creative Writing, she has been Writer Fellow at Trinity College Dublin and is currently Writer Fellow at UCD. She is a member of Aosdána^[4] since 2004,^[5] an ambassador for the Irish Writers' Centre, and President of the Folklore of Ireland Society (An Cumann le Béaloideas Éireann). Ní Dhuibhne is the Burns Visiting Scholar at Boston College for the fall 2020 semester.^[6]

Ní Dhuibhne was married to the Swedish folklorist Bo Almqvist for 30 years until he died suddenly due to a short illness in 2013. She has two children: Ragnar and Olaf.^[7] Éilís Ní Dhuibne wrote the memoir Twelve Thousand Days: A Memoir of Love and Loss about her and her late husband's time together, named after the number of days they were married.^[8]

Further information on Éilís Ní Dhuibhne's work may be found in Rebecca Pelan, ed, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne: Perspectives. Galway, Arlen House, 2009.^[9]

Awards

• 1985 Listowel Poetry Award^[10]
• Oireachtas Awards for a play and novels
• Butler Prose Award (American Association of Irish Studies)
• Bisto Merit Awards for The Hiring Fair and Hurlamaboc, and Bisto Book of the Year Award for Blaeberry Sunday
• 1986 Arts Council Bursaries^[11]
• 1998 Arts Council Bursaries ^[12]
• 1997 BBC Irish Language Award ^[13]
• 2000 Orange Prize for Fiction, shortlisted for The Dancers Dancing^[14]
• 2014 Hennessy Literature Award^[15]
• 2015 Irish PEN Award^[16]
• 2019 BBC Irish Language Award ^[17]

List of works

Novels in English

• The Bray House (1990)
• Singles (1994)
• The Dancers Dancing (1999)
• Fox, Swallow, Scarecrow (2007)
• Sister Caravaggio (2014)

Novels in Irish

• Dúnmharú sa Daingean (2001)
• Cailíní Beaga Ghleann na mBláth (2003)
• Hurlamaboc (2005)
• Dún an Airgid (2008)
• Dordán (2011)
• Aisling Nó Iníon A (2015)

Collections

• Blood and Water (1988)
• Eating Women Is Not Recommended (1991)
• The Inland Ice (1997)
• The Pale Gold of Alaska (2000)
• Midwife to the Fairies (2003)
• The Shelter of Neighbours (2012)
• Little Red and Other Stories (2020)

Children's Books

• The Uncommon Cormorant (1990)
• Hugo and the Sunshine Girl (1991)
• The Hiring Fair (1992)
• Blaeberry Sunday (1993)
• Penny Farthing Sally (1996)
• The Sparkling Rain (2004)
• Snobs, Dogs and Scobies (2011)

Plays

• Dún na mBan Trí Thine
  Produced by Amharclann de hÍde and first performed at the Peacock, Dublin, 1995;
• Milseog an tSamhraidh
  Produced by Amharclann de hÍde and first performed at the Samuel Beckett Theatre, Trinity College, in 1996;
• The Nettle Shirts
  Produced by the Abbey and performed at the Peacock Theatre, Dublin, in 1998.

Memoirs

• Twelve Thousand Days: A Memoir of Love and Loss (2018)

External links

• • Irish Authors
• UCD page

Notes and References

1. Web site: University College Dublin. 16 January 2015. writing.ie. 9 February 2022.
2. Web site: University of Copenhagen. UCD.ie. 9 February 2022.
3. News: Twelve Thousand Days: A Memoir of Love and Loss. Belfasttelegraph. Belfast Telegraph. 11 February 2022.
4. Web site: aosdana. artscouncil.ie. 8 October 2013.
5. Web site: Biography Ní Dhuibhne. 11 February 2022.
6. Web site: Burns Visiting Scholars - Libraries at Boston College.
7. News: Twelve Thousand Days: A Memoir of Love and Loss. Belfasttelegraph. Belfast Telegraph. 11 February 2022.
8. News: Twelve Thousand Days: A Memoir of Love and Loss. Belfasttelegraph. Belfast Telegraph. 11 February 2022.
9. Web site: Collection 2009.
10. Web site: Encyclopedia.com entry.
11. Web site: Ní Dhuibne's Awards. Ricorso. 11 February 2022.
12. Web site: Ní Dhuibne's Awards. Ricorso. 11 February 2022.
13. Web site: Stewartparkertrust.com. Stewart Parker Trust. 9 February 2022.
14. http://www.eilisnidhuibhne.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=27 for the entire bibliography, including the awards.
15. News: Ríona Judge McCormack wins Hennessy New Irish Writer award. Doyle. Martin. The Irish Times. en. 2019-03-14.
16. News: Éilís Ní Dhuibhne to receive the Irish PEN Award for outstanding contribution to Irish literature . . Laura Slattery . 16 January 2015 . 18 October 2015.
17. Web site: Stewartparkertrust.com. Stewart Parker Trust. 9 February 2022.