This critical work asks whether the formation of a poet's oeuvre must involve artistic aberration. With introductory statements exploring the nature of aberration, these fourteen essays investigate the body of work of major contemporary poets from the U.S., Britain, Australia and New Zealand. Aberration is considered from the standpoint of both the artist and the audience, which ultimately forms the canon. The essays are concerned with the status of the aberrant work and the ways in which it challenges, enlarges or supports the overall perception of the poet.

This unique anthology of poetry written by women in Ireland 1870-1970 includes more than one hundred and eighty poems by fifteen women of diverse backgrounds, experiences and creative aims. Challenging the assumption that little poetry of note was written by women during the period, this rich and original collection reveals the range of their achievement and the lasting value of their work. Some of these women were prolific writers in many genres, others wrote poetry for a brief period only: all produced imaginative and memorable work that sheds new light both on the lives of women and on the development of poetry in Ireland from the late nineteenth century onward. The poetry in this anthology reflects the political and social crosscurrents of the time-the divided loyalties, spiritual questioning and intellectual curiosity that shaped these women's lives. There are personal concerns too, and a desire to combine the expression of feeling with attention to the craft of poetry itself. Some of these voices will already be known to readers: poets such as Katharine Tynan and Eva Gore-Booth were widely published during their lifetimes and have been regularly anthologised in the years since. Others will be discovered here for the first time, offering fresh insights into the inventive and forward-looking work of these women. From the nationalist ballads of Elizabeth Varian to the modernist lyrics of Sheila Wingfield, these poems show the range and accomplishment of poetry written by women in Ireland between 1870 and 1970.

2016 marks the centenary of the Easter Rising, known as "the poets' rebellion", for among their leaders were university scholars of English, history and Irish. The ill-fated revolt lasted six days and ended ignominiously with the rebels rounded up and their leaders sentenced to death. The signatories of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic must have known that the Rising would be crushed, must have dreaded the carnage and death, must have foreseen that, if caught alive, they would themselves be executed. Between 3 and 12 May 1916, the seven signatories were among those executed by firing squad in Kilmainham Gaol. Now 100 years later, eight of Ireland's finest writers remember these revolutionaries in a unique theatre performance. The forgotten figure of Elizabeth O'Farrell - the nurse who delivered the rebels' surrender to the British - is also given a voice. Signatories comprises the artistic responses of Emma Donoghue, Thomas Kilroy, Hugo Hamilton, Frank McGuinness, Rachel Fehily, Eilis Ni Dhuibhne, Marina Carr and Joseph O'Connor to the seven signatories and Nurse O'Farrell.They portray the emotional struggle in this ground-breaking theatrical and literary commemoration of Ireland's turbulent past. A performance introduction on the staging of the play is given by Director Patrick Mason, and an introduction by Lucy Collins, School of English, Drama and Film, UCD, sets the historical context of the play.

Arrangements have been made for Smudge to stay with Mr and Mrs Butt and their obnoxious son Billy, whilst his parents go on holiday. Billy Butt is a naughty, greedy bully and a food worshipper. The boys hate each other. On a day out, Billy runs off to explore, and Smudge chases after him into a dark forest where they get hopelessly lost. It is there where they fall into the evil hands of Madge and Reggie Stinkhorn, who lure them into their home with the promise of tasty treats. It is also there where the boys are trapped and made to work as slaves in an underground factory, run by two nasty henchmen, Limpitt and Muscles. They eventually discover a sinister trade involving monstrous creatures, where secrets lurk around every corner. They must escape to tell the world. 'What they encountered next was something too hideous to mention, but it will be mentioned, because it was hideously fascinating.'