Bran Identity & Culture
Irish Poetry 1920–1965

Bran is a research project on mid-century Irish poetry connecting researchers in Maynooth University Ireland with a researcher in Queen’s University, Belfast. In this project, we aim to provide a radically new paradigm for thinking about culture, identity, and politics on the island between 1920 and 1965.

Like Bran, the voyager of Irish legend, our project hoists anchor and sails out from familiar territories—the dominant critical narratives of Irish poetry. We have curated number of exhibitions of poets across a themes that will be showcased here.

Ruth Adams

1907 - 1977

Life of Social 
Impact

An English journalist and feminist writer. Born in Arnold, Nottinghamshire, she initially worked as a teacher. Her notable works include "War On Saturday Week" and "I'm Not Complaining," which explored political extremism and women's lives during the Depression. Adam contributed to BBC's Woman's Hour and wrote comic strips for "Girl" magazine. She co-founded the Fisher Group and wrote several novels and biographies. Her final book, 
"A Woman's Place: 1910-1975," was a social history of 20th-century women. She passed away on 3 February 1977.

Eithne O’Connell

1924 - 1999

Horizons from a 
Civil Service Desk

The Runa Press was established in spring 1943 by Eithne O’Connell, a young poet, Irish language activist, and civil servant originally from rural Limerick, along with her future husband, Trinity College Dublin student and psychoanalyst Rupert Strong. Strong had followed his mentor, Jonathan Hanaghan, to Dublin from England in the late 1930s. Hanaghan, a powerful personality, founded the Monkstown Group, which met to discuss psychoanalysis from the early 1940s, later evolving into the Irish Psychoanalytic Association. The Group scandalised Dublin with their bohemian conception of life and their mystical fusion of Freud and Christ. Read more about the Runa Press and its founders in the full exhibition.

Index

Ruth Adams

An English journalist and feminist writer. Born in Arnold, Nottinghamshire, she initially worked as a teacher. Her notable works include "War On Saturday Week" and "I'm Not Complaining," which explored political extremism and women's lives during the Depression. Adam contributed to BBC's Woman's Hour and wrote comic strips for "Girl" magazine. She co-founded the Fisher Group and wrote several novels and biographies. Her final book, 
"A Woman's Place: 1910-1975," was a social history of 20th-century women. She passed away on 3 February 1977.

Product & Research Team

Aimed at rethinking culture, identity, and politics on the island between 1920 and 1965, BRAN highlights the dynamic, collaborative nature of Irish poetry, with a focus on contributions from women, minorities, and international influences.

The project connects researchers in Maynooth University Ireland with a researcher in Queen’s University, Belfast.

Team

Gail McConnell

Bran, North Lead

Karl O’Hanlon

Bran, Lead Investiagor

Julie Morrissy

Bran, Postdoctoral Researcher

Themes

Themes

Index

1904 - 1972

Ferdinand Levy

Born in Jamaica in 1904, Ferdinand Levy lived for almost two decades in Dublin while studying medicine at Trinity College Dublin. He is possibly the first black poet published in Ireland. His only book of poems, Flashes from the Dark, was published in Dublin by Colm O’Lochlainn’s Three Candles Press in 1941.

  • Words
    Karl O’Hanlon
  • Location
    Dublin
  • Themes