Cathal Ó Searcaigh

Rugadh agus tógadh Cathal Ó Searcaigh ar fheirm shléibhe i Mín a’ Leá, Gort an Choirce, pobal Gaeltachta in iar-thuaisceart chontae Dhún na nGall. Tá sé ina údar ar 18 cnuasach filíochta, trí dhráma agus ceithre leabhar próis. Is mórphearsa é in athbheochan shuaithinseach scríbhneoireacht na Gaeilge lenár linn. Foilsíodh Crann na Teanga/The Language Tree, mór-dhíolaim dá fhilíocht le rogha dánta as a chnuasaigh ar fad, ag Cló an Mhíl Bhuí sa bhliain 2018. Scríobh Colm Tóibín faoina fhilíocht mar seo a leanas: “There is a section of landscape in Donegal in the North of Ireland near Falcarragh, overlooking Tory Island, which has been utterly transformed over the past decades by the poems written in Irish by Cathal Ó Searcaigh.” Is ball é d’Aosdána agus é fós ina chónaí ar a fhód dúchais.

Cathal Ó Searcaigh was born and grew up on a hill farm in Mín a’ Leá, Gort an Choirce, an Irish-speaking glen and Gaeltacht community in the northwest of County Donegal. The author of 18 volumes of poetry, three plays and four works of prose, he is a leading figure in the remarkable renaissance of Irish-language writing in our time. A major selection of his poetry from all of his previous collections, Crann na Teanga/The Language Tree, was published by The Irish Pages Press in 2018. Colm Tóibín has written of his poetry: “There is a section of landscape in Donegal in the North of Ireland near Falcarragh, overlooking Tory Island, which has been utterly transformed over the past decades by the poems written in Irish by Cathal Ó Searcaigh.” He is a member of Aosdána, and continues to live on the home ground of his parents.

Anna Frater

Rugadh Anna Frater ann an 1967 agus thogadh i ann am Pabail Uarach ann an Leòdhas, ann an dachaigh agus coimhearsnachd far an robh Gàidhlig na prìomh chànan. Às deidh dhi MA (Hons) a chosnadh agus an uair sin PhD (air bàrdachd boireannaich na h-Alba suas gu 1750) aig Oilthigh Ghlaschu, chaidh i an sàs ann an grunn dreuchdan sna meadhanan mus do thill i a Leòdhas ann an 1999 gus teagasg air na ceumannan Gàidhlig aig Colaiste a’ Chaisteil, pàirt de dh’Oilthigh na Gàidhealtachd is nan Eilean. Tha i an-dràsta air bòrd-stiùiridh Fèisean nan Gàidheal a bharrachd air a bhith na cathraiche air Fèis an Rubha. Chaidh a’ bhàrdachd aice fhoillseachadh ann an grunn duanairean, a bharrachd air na cruinneachaidhean aice fhèin, Fon t-Slige (1995) agus Cridhe Creige (2017).

Anna Frater was born in 1967 and brought up in the village of Upper Bayble on the Isle of Lewis, in a home and a community where Gaelic was the main language. After gaining an MA and then a PhD (on Scottish women’s poetry up to 1750) at Glasgow University, she worked in various roles in the media before returning to Lewis in 1999 to teach on the Gaelic-medium degrees at Lews Castle College, The University of Highlands and Islands. She is currently on the board of directors of Fèisean nan Gàidheal as well as being chair of Fèis an Rubha. Her work has been published in various anthologies, as well as her own collections, Fon t-Slige (1995) and Cridhe Creige (2017).