Mairéad Byrne

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Mairéad Byrne is an Irish poet born in Dublin who moved to the United States in 1994. She has published five poetry collections and other works, and she teaches poetry and poetics at the Rhode Island School of Design.

She earned a BA in English from University College Dublin in 1977, a Higher Diploma in Education from Trinity College Dublin in 1994, and an MA in Literature and Creative Writing (1996) and a PhD in Theory & Cultural Studies (2001) from Purdue University.

Her poetry includes You Have to Laugh: New and Selected Poems (Barrow Street, 2013); The Best of (What’s Left of) Heaven (Publishing Genius, 2010); Talk Poetry (Miami University Press, 2007); SOS Poetry (Ubu Editions, 2007); and Nelson & The Huruburu Bird (Wild Honey Press, 2003). Chapbooks include State House Calendar (Dusie Kollektiv/ Watersign Press, 2009); An Educated Heart (Palm Press, 2005); Kalends (Belladonna, 2005); Vivas (Wild Honey Press, 2005); and The Pillar (Wild Honey Press, 2000).

In the Cambridge Companion to Twentieth Century British and Irish Women’s Poetry (2011), Lee Jenkins places Byrne’s poetics in the global mix of diaspora, migration, and the information age, noting she blends formal innovation with social justice. In an interview with Sina Queyras, Byrne said she sees her work within the tradition of Irish comic literature, connecting early Irish writing with 20th‑century authors like Beckett and Flann O’Brien.

She has collaborated with visual artists on books such as Jennifer’s Family (Schilt, 2012); Michael Mulcahy (Gandon Editions, 1995); Eithne Jordan (Gandon Editions, 1994); and Joyce-A Clew (Bluett & Co., 1982). Byrne is the author of two plays, The Golden Hair (Project Arts Centre Dublin, 1982) and Safe Home (Project Arts Centre, 1985), both produced with Arts Council support.

Before moving to the United States, she worked as a freelance journalist in Ireland from 1978 to 1986, writing for In Dublin magazine, The Irish Times, and RTÉ, and she wrote for The Village Voice and Provincetown Advocate in the United States in 1987–1988.