Fiona Bolger

 

“I found the poems in the fields                                                                                                           

And only wrote them down” 

 Clare, J. (1949) Poems of John Clare’s Madness. London, Routledge and K. Paul (p. 57) 

 Poems can be corralled into lists by country, by language, by form. I am interested in those that fall in between or straddle more than one category. I propose to write down those that fall between Ireland and South Asia. 

 Qualifications 

M.A. in Creative Writing, Lancaster University (2011); H.Dip.Ed. (English & T.E.F.L.), University College Dublin, (1998); B.A. (English), University College Dublin(1993).  

 Publications 

Co-edited All the Worlds Between: A Collaborative Poetry Project between Ireland and India, Yoda Press, New Delhi, 2017.  The Geometry of Love Between the Elements, Poetry Bus Press, Arklow, 2013. Poems published in Chattahoochee Review, The Brown Critique, Southword, Poetry Bus, Can Can and Muse India. Performed at Lingo Festival, Dublin, Bangaluru Poetry Festival, Ó’Bhéal’s Women the World Over, 1916 and Cork Spring Poetry Festival.  

 Doctoral research 

My research approaches the migration experiences of those who have moved between South Asia and Ireland, from a number of angles. The creative output, a poetry collection, will be a response to the personal, cultural and linguistic challenges, benefits and experiences of those who have migrated, including the writer.  Through the development of a theoretical framework the collection will be in a position to engage with contemporary debates around identity, who has the right to speak of an experience and how and why that should be done. Close readings of poets who themselves share this experience will provide a context for this collection, a contrast as well as a comparison. By looking at the work of poets where the linguistic, formal or documentary nature of the poems reflects elements of this project, new ways of writing can be explored which will enrich the creative output of the project.  

 Research overview 

 Poetry as a form of research and creative documentation is at the heart of this project. Poetry as a form of communication between people, cultures and across borders. With a growing South Asian community in Ireland there is an opportunity to explore South Asian poetry in English written by the diaspora. While there are poets telling the stories of migrants from South Asia to the UK and the US, there are few poets telling such stories with reference to Ireland and these stories are waiting to be told. There is also the need to tell my own story of migration from Ireland to India and almost, but not quite, back.  

 Supervisor 

Dr Kit Fryatt