​Born and raised in Westport, Co. Mayo, poet and academic Mary Madec received an M.A in Old English poetry at NUI Galway, and her doctorate in Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Mary's natural poetic talent was first recognised and nurtured by the satirical poet Kevin Higgins. With his encouragement she entered and won the Hennessy XO Prize for Emerging Poetry in 2008. Following this success, Mary published her first collection of poems 'In Other Words' with Salmon Poetry in 2010. This volume was followed by two further collections, Demeter Does Not Remember (2014) and The Egret Lands With News from Other Parts (2019).

 

Funded by a bursary from the Arts Council, An Chomhairle Ealaíon, Mary's new collection The Ghost in the Bole will be published this spring.