Translation: The Sirens of Ventotene

by Chiara Tagliaferri* Translated by William Wall Chiara Tagliaferri a Ventotene Imagining a prison is easy, we all have in mind what a cell looks like: bars on the window, a couple of cots (usually bunk beds), a small desk, a sink, a few posters hanging on the walls...

Savita Halappanavar and the Doctor’s Plague

Originally published here on Friday 23 November 2012 When my sister was born my mother began to haemorrhage badly and was in danger of bleeding to death. My father and my aunt (a nurse who qualified in England) pleaded with the doctor to carry out a hysterectomy...

Translation: Notes on Rosa Luxemburg at 150

by Carola Susani (Translation by William Wall) Originally published in Nuovi Argomenti #7 of 2021, Rome. www.nuoviargomenti.net This translation previously appeared in Critical Legal Thinking Simone Weil was fascinated by Rosa Luxemburg, reading her brought her joy....

On poetry, politics and punctuation

This essay was first published on writing.ie 1 Poetry and punctuation Recently a friend took me to task for not punctuating a poem of mine that he otherwise liked. He didn’t see the aesthetic or political argument for it, he told me, although, in declaring it ‘a fine...

On being poet Laureate of Cork and the laureate chapbook

The Temptations of Silence Being Cork Poet Laureate has been a privilege and very much a learning process. When I first took up the position in 2021 I set myself the rule that the poems had to be as accessible as possible. In addition there was the requirement (from...