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The Poetry of Medbh McGuckian

The Poetry of Medbh McGuckian (2010, ed. R Kirkland, S Alcobia-Murphy, Cork: Cork University Press, pp 262) is the first full-length collection of essays devoted to this extraordinary poet. The editors divided the work equally, and Kirkland had particular responsibility for refereeing, commenting on, and correcting the submitted work, identifying and liaising with the publishers, and working on the final production of the proofs. The editors met with the poet herself in Aberdeen in 2008 and jointly conducted an interview with her that forms the final part of the book. Kirkland also gave a paper at a seminar with McGuckian in Aberdeen during this visit. Alcobia-Murphy is the sole author of the introduction.

The book is part of a longstanding research collaboration with Alcobia-Murphy that is ongoing. Their current project is titled ‘Amnesty and Amnesia: Memory, Commemoration and Trauma in Post-ceasefire Northern Ireland’. Its outcomes are a research symposium (April 2013) and a co-edited collection of essays (2014 expected).

Helen Emmitt in reviewing The Poetry of Medbh McGuckian noted that ‘Alcobia-Murphy and Kirkland have done a service to the scholarly community both in their own contributions and in bringing together these fascinating, disturbing, and illuminating essays’ (Irish Studies Review, 19:4, November 2011, 467-9).

His own contribution to the collection, 'Medbh McGuckian and the Politics of Minority Discourse' (p. 147-61) has been identified in the Year's Work in English Studies ((2012) 91 (1): 814-904: XIV Modern Literature) as one of 'the two stand-out essays' in the book.