A Ghost in the Throat
Ireland

A Ghost in the Throat

by Doireann Ní Ghríofa

Motherhood Non-Fiction Memoir Essays 2020

Summary

When contemporary Irish poet Doireann Ní Ghríofa discovers the extraordinary work of eighteenth-century poet Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill, she becomes captivated by the woman’s life and the grief that inspired her most famous poem. After discovering her husband’s murdered body, Eibhlín drank his blood and composed a devastating lament that would survive for centuries. Determined to recover the details of a life that history has largely erased, Ní Ghríofa embarks on a literary investigation that becomes deeply intertwined with her own experiences of pregnancy, motherhood, and domestic life. Moving between past and present, A Ghost in the Throat blends memoir, literary criticism, and historical research to explore female creativity, the silencing of women’s voices, and the intimate connections that can form between women separated by centuries. It is a lyrical meditation on grief, desire, motherhood, and the transformative power of discovering another woman’s story.

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About the author
Doireann Ní Ghríofa
Doireann Ní Ghríofa

Doireann Ní Ghríofa is an award-winning Irish poet and essayist whose work explores women’s lives, motherhood, desire, grief, and the relationship between the body and history. She writes in both Irish and English, blending lyrical language with historical research and personal reflection to illuminate the experiences of women whose stories have been overlooked. Ní Ghríofa is the author of several acclaimed poetry collections, including Clasp, Lies, and To Star the Dark. Her prose debut, A Ghost in the Throat (2020), combines memoir with an investigation into the life and work of eighteenth-century Irish poet Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill. The book received numerous honours, including the James Tait Black Prize for Biography and the An Post Irish Book of the Year award, and was shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize. Her 2026 book, Said the Dead, continues her exploration of women’s lives and historical erasure, drawing on archival records from a former psychiatric hospital in Cork. Through her distinctive combination of documented history, imaginative reconstruction, and poetic prose, Ní Ghríofa examines how the lives of women from the past continue to resonate in the present. She has received several other literary honours, including a Lannan Literary Fellowship and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature.

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Details
Published
2020
Author
Doireann Ní Ghríofa