Doireann Ní Ghríofa

Doireann Ní Ghríofa is the first-person narrator of A Ghost in the Throat. At the outset of the narrative, Doireann is living in a rented flat with her three children and husband. She devotes her days to cleaning nappies, straightening toys, and breastfeeding. After her family is evicted again, they move to another rental unit in Kilcrea. On the drive to the new house, the narrator remembers that Kilcrea is the name of the graveyard mentioned in the poem Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire, which she read as a child and teenager. After she moves into the new house, Doireann begins rereading the poem while she breast pumps milk to donate to the milk bank. During her pregnancy with her daughter, Doireann resolves to undertake her own translation of Eibhlín Dubh’s poem. While she is not a scholar, translation “does not feel unfamiliar...