Queer Irish Favorites for Pride Month!
by Gracelyn Barmore-Pooley
Happy Pride from all of us at An Saoránach! Keep reading for a few of our favorite things from queer Irish people in Ireland, Irish America, and the global diaspora:
Fiction:
Slant
Katherine O’Donnell
This novel follows Ro, a lesbian from Cork who emigrates to Boston in the 1980s, finds joy in queer community and purpose in AIDS activism, to the 2015 marriage referendum. One of my favorite reads of last year!
Wild Geese
Soula Emmanuel
Another excellent debut novel, centering Phoebe, a PhD candidate at a university in Copenhagen whose past in Dublin converges with her present in the form of a visit from her ex-girlfriend, Grace. “A poignant, sprawling story of trans life and love from a remarkable new voice in Irish literature” — Feminist Press
Stir Fry / Hood / The Pull of the Stars
Emma Donoghue
Ireland’s most famous literary lesbian! You may have read/seen Room, or seen the Netflix adaptation of The Wonder, but my favorites are her earliest two novels, lesbian coming of age stories set in/around Dublin, and The Pull of the Stars which is set in the maternity ward of a Dublin hospital during the flu pandemic and has Kathleen Lynn as one of the central characters.
A Noise from the Woodshed
Mary Dorcey
A short story collection from an author who was one of the first openly lesbian authors in Ireland! Notable for her explicit portrayal of lesbian sexuality and for her involvement in the Sexual Liberation Movement and Irish Gay Rights Movements.
The Blackwater Lightship
Colm Tóibín
Set in Ireland in the early 1990s, surrounding three generations of family coming together to take care of son Declan, who is dying of AIDS. Devastating and moving!
Shuggie Bain / Young Mungo
Douglas Stuart
Set in and around Glasgow’s diasporic Irish community, both heartbreaking portrayals of queer life in working-class communities.
Honorable Mentions:
The works of Sally Rooney
Despite the heterosexual formations the relationships she portrays usually take, I appreciate the consistency with which bisexuality forms and informs the texts and her commitment to examining the potentiality of relationships beyond norms.
Carmilla
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu — the original lesbian vampire story!
Nonfiction:
Rock the Sham!
The Irish Lesbian & Gay Organization's Battle to March in New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade
Anne Maguire
Essential reading for those interested in queer Irish and Irish-American history!
Queering the Green:
Post-2000 Queer Irish Poetry
Paul Maddern (Editor)
A lovely anthology showing “the multiplicity and vibrancy of the queer experience in 21st Century Ireland” — Lifeboat Press
Reeling in the Queers:
Tales of Ireland’s LGBTQ Past
Páraic Kerrigan
Fourteen stories from Ireland’s queer past, looking towards the “intricate threads of ordinary people.”
An Foclóir Aiteach - The Queer Dictionary
Laoighseach Ní Choistealbha agus Tadhg Mac Eoghain
Bailiúchán téarma ceangailte le saol aiteach i nGaeilge. Do foilsíodh an céad eagrán i 2018 agus an dara eagrán i 2022. Thá cóip digiteach saor in aisce ar suíomh Siopa Leabhar.
A dictionary of queer terminology in Irish (Gaelic)! Find it here!
Outitude:
The Irish Lesbian Documentary
A wonderful documentary dir. by Sonya Mulligan centering lesbians in Ireland, including interviews with many influential activists and artists!
Queer Irish Studies
A few of our favorites from scholars studying queer Irish people worldwide:
Queer Irish Cinema by Alison Macleod
Sexual/liberation by Michael G. Cronin
Terrible Queer Creatures: Homosexuality in Irish History by Brian Lacey
Theory on the Edge: Irish Studies and the Politics of Sexual Difference edited by Noreen Giffney and Margrit Shildrick
Love in the Lav: A Social Biography of Same-Sex Desire in Ireland, 1922-1972 by Averill Earls (coming this June!)
Queer Performance and Contemporary Ireland: Dissent and Disorientation by Fintan Walsh
Everything Eibhear Walshe ever wrote <3
To learn more about Irish queer history, follow the Irish Queer Archive on Instagram — hopefully they return to posting regularly! Still an invigorating backlog of queer archival material, all housed at the National Library of Ireland.
Miscellaneous
Mary’s Bar in Brooklyn
One of our favorite spots in New York City. Though temporarily closed for now, here’s hoping they find a new location soon…the perfect queer Irish pub!
Gay Spar
Of course. <3
CMAT
A bisexual pop-country icon. If you ever get the chance to see her in concert, it is an unbelievably fun experience. Her newest album comes out in August which gives you plenty of time to catch up on the first two.
Strange Fox Fighting Arts
Trans-led, queer-centered bataireacht (Irish stick / shillelagh fighting) classes in Baltimore, with pop-up workshops in other cities! Follow them on Instagram at @bmorebata.
I’m Grand Mam
A podcast full of giggles and goofs!
The Gayli
A queer céili, a night of Irish dancing — like this one, hosted by Brooklyn Dance Co and the New York Irish Center on June 11th! Or Sí-Bín in Dublin, who recently held a céili fundraising for aid to Palestine including The Sameer Project!
St. Pat’s for All
New York’s Queer centric St. Patrick’s Day parade founded by Brendan Fay. St. Pat’s for All has served Irish Americans and Irish immigrants of all orientations and backgrounds for over twenty years, and won’t stop anytime soon!
Féile Bród - Irish Repertory Theater
This yearly celebration of Queer Irish Pride in New York City is on June 23rd at 7pm at the Irish Rep! Learn more here.
Let us know if we’ve missed any of your favorites!
Gaylgeoiri on Insta is also great for queer Irish language and culture!