Cork woman’s poem features in A Little Book Of Brigid

AN anthology of poetry, celebrating and commemorating St Brigid 1,500 years after her death, features a poem by West Cork native, Mary McCarthy.

The book, titled A Little Book Of Brigid, is the brainchild of Angelina Foster and Emily Rainsford of Blueway Art Studio in Kildare. It features a carefully curated collection of illustrated poems “dedicated to all the women forgotten in history and every young girl who dreams of greatness”.

In all, the book contains 28 poems - 24 in the English language and four in Irish - from artists all over the world.

Mary McCarthy, from Skibbereen, is one of the artists selected to appear in the book with her poem The Weaver.

“My poem is about surrendering to Brigid, from making her cross to knowing her mystical power. And hope is her promise of spring,” she explains.

McCarthy said she entered her poem because she was keen to be part of the Blueway Art Studio project.

“The project celebrates Brigid as a female force in the ordinary lives of Irish women in Ireland,” she says.

When I think of Brigid, I see her as a goddess of women.

A Little Book Of Brigid is part of the Brigid 1500 programme, which aims to celebrate and commemorate the life and legacy of St Brigid this year - 1,500 years after her death. Through festivals, concerts, talks, art commissions, illuminations, pilgrimages, and craft workshops, Brigid 1500 aims to bring her life and legacy into the public consciousness.

With its poems from poets around the world, A Little Book Of Brigid illustrates just how far Brigid’s influence has spread.

It is more than just a simple book of poetry. Foster and Rainsford have used traditional processes throughout the printing, making and binding processes.

For the printing, traditional letterpress techniques are used: each letter is composed upside down and backwards and set by hand using a 14 pt Caslon metal type. Each poem is accompanied by hand-drawn illustrations which have been made into silk screens and then printed individually on Madrid Litho paper with Lascaux Gouache.

French linen thread was used to bind the book, using a traditional coptic stitch. Foster and Rainsford gave a nod to St Brigid’s ancestral lands by using foraged heather from peatlands in Kildare to naturally dye Ulster linen, which was then used to create a Brat Bhride (St Brigid’s Cloak) for each of the 100 copies of the book.

As part of the A Little Book Of Brigid project, this edition of 100 books will be gifted to 100 women or institutions who have supported women in their communities or who campaign for women’s rights.

People are being invited to vote for women they think should be honoured with one of the books. Nominations can be made via the Blueway Art Studio form, see https://bluewayartstudio.ie/brigids-book/. People can nominate up until the middle of June, 2024.

The book was launched at an event in Narraghmore in Kildare recently. At the event, 10 women were gifted the book: Sabina Higgins, Sr Consilio, Alva Fitzgerald, Athy Sing & Sign, Cathy Fitzgerald, Sr Ann Scully, Sonya Kavanagh, Joan Martin, Erin Darcy and Celine Broughal. Seven other women, who couldn’t attend on the day, have also been gifted the book, including Mary McAleese.

We are aware that 100 books are nowhere near enough to thank women in communities throughout Ireland and abroad. 

"However, we hope this initiative makes people think of the good deeds carried out quietly in the background in many communities throughout Ireland and abroad,” says Ms Foster.

Ms McCarthy said if she were to nominate someone to receive the book, she would choose her old English teacher.

“If I were to nominate one person to receive one of the 100 copies of the book, it would be Dr Rosari Kingston PhD, from Skibbereen. She was my English teacher at Mercy Heights Secondary School in Skibbereen. She was a wonderful educator, who instilled in me a passion for English, and a love of reading, writing, and ideas,” she says.

Mary was shortlisted for The Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award 2022. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Limerick, and began writing poetry in 2018. Her poems have been published widely, including in The Echo.