Shortlisted for the Shine/Strong Poetry Award
In this debut collection Órfhlaith Foyle’s poetry is adventurous, mysterious and passionate. Her poems tell of migrant emotions as well as migrant journeys. There is death and the loss of faith, as well as celebration of the intense need human beings have for each another. She plays with rhyme and narrative techniques, delivering words into vivid poems that delineate the darkness of life and how such darkness has to exist within us despite what we fear from it. Órfhlaith Foyle writes poems the way a wanderer travels another country. She juxtaposes ideas and feelings with her truth and what she sees in the world around her. This collection demonstrates her love for art and words, and the need to be a witness to life.
Órfhlaith Foyle was born in Nigeria to Irish parents and is currently based in Galway. Her first novel, Belios, was published in 2005 by The Lilliput Press. A collection of her short fiction and poetry, Revenge, was published in 2005 by Arlen House, along with her debut short fiction collection, Somewhere in Minnesota, and her second collection, Clemency Browne Dreams of Gin. She is currently working on her third short fiction collection, her second poetry collection and a play.