Rachael Hegarty (born 1968) is a poet and educator from the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. Rachael is the presenter for Poetry People on RTE Radio 1. She is the Poet laureate for

Dublin 1 Dublin 1, also rendered as D1 and D01, is a postal district on the northside of Dublin, Ireland. Area profile D1 lies entirely within the Dáil constituency of Dublin Central. Dublin Central is one of the most densely populated and sociall ...

Early childhood

Born the 7th of 10 kids in Broadstone, Dublin in 1968, Hegarty's early childhood was spent between the canals. She, her mother, and her brother David survived the Talbot Street Bombing of 17 May 1974. Her family no longer felt safe in the city centre and moved to Finglas after the

Dublin and Monaghan bombings The Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 17 May 1974 were a series of co-ordinated bombings in Dublin and Monaghan, Ireland, carried out by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). Three car bombs exploded in Dublin during the evening rush hour and a ...

Education and travel

Hegarty's primary and secondary school education was with the Holy Faith sisters at Mother of Divine Grace and St. Michael's, Finglas. At 18 she moved to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, worked as a babysitter and got a scholarship to attend

University of Massachusetts Boston The University of Massachusetts Boston (stylized as UMass Boston) is a Public university, public US-based research university. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus University of Ma ...

. Hegarty returned home in 1994 and got her master's degree in Irish Literature at

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

. He father, Charlie, the Irish Olympic Judo coach, died suddenly in 1996. She then moved, lived, and worked in

Shimane is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a geographic area of 6,708.26 km2. Shimane Prefecture borders Yamagu ...

, Japan from 1996 to 1999. Hegarty returned home again in 1999 and did her master's degree in Creative Writing at Trinity College Dublin. Rachael also completed her Ph.D. at

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

Career

Hegarty has been scribbling since she was a child hiding under the stairs and trying to escape housework. Her father gave her a dictionary, her siblings handed her pens and paper and her mother gave her a copy of

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of the Roma ...

’s ''

Songs of Innocence and of Experience ''Songs of Innocence and of Experience'' is a collection of illustrated poems by William Blake. Originally, Blake illuminated and bound ''Songs of Innocence'' and ''Songs of Experience'' separately. It was only in 1794 that Blake combined the t ...

'' for her 13th birthday. Hegarty credits her mentor Paula Meehan for encouraging her to keep going with the poetry. Hegarty also teaches English literature, language, creative writing, and academic skills at the Trinity Access Programme and CDETB. She thinks marginalized students should be at the centre of education.

Selected works

* Wild Flowers on the Darndale Roundabout (Salmon 2024 * Dancing with Memory (Salmon, 2022) * Making Sense of Finglas (DCC 2020) * May Day 1974 (Salmon, 2019) * Flight Paths Over Finglas (Salmon 2017)

Awards and honours

* The Shine Strong Award * The Francis Mc Manus Prize * The Over the Edge New Writer of the Year

References

External links

Poem of the week: The Waves at Spanish Point

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

Poem of the week: Communion

The Dublin bombings: Sonnets and ballads in memory of the victims

The Dublin-Monaghan bombings - Rachael Hegarty remembers

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

Poetry People on RTE Radio 1

English Grammar and Ukrainian Poetry, by Rachael Hegarty

Jimmy-Joes, One Year On, a poem by Rachael Hegarty

St Nick’s in the Liberties, a poem by Rachael Hegarty

* https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22497758/ * https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22208112/ * https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22472898/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Hegarty, Rachael 1968 births 20th-century Irish poets 21st-century Irish poets Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Irish women poets Living people University of Massachusetts Boston alumni Writers from Dublin (city)