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Máirtín Coilféir, PhD

  • Associate Professor of Gaeilge (Irish), School of Irish Studies

Research areas: Modern Irish literature, translation, ethics, humour, violence, critical theory

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Biography

Bio

Máirtín is from Navan, County Meath, in Ireland. He holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Translation and Editing from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, and a PhD in Modern Irish from Trinity College, Dublin. As well as serving as editor for the literary journal Comhar and the peer-reviewed academic annual Comhar Taighde, he has held positions in the University of Galway; University College, Dublin; and the University of Toronto. He took up his position here at the School of Irish Studies in 2020.

Research and Publications

Modern literature and translation are the two main fields of Máirtín's work. He has published academic essays on violence and humour in fiction, ethical criticism, community theatre and children's literature, among other things; his work has appeared in periodicals such New Hibernia Review and The American Journal of Irish Studies, and in edited volumes such as The Cambridge History of the Irish NovelThe Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Irish Theatre and Performance and Úrscéalta na Gaeilge [The Novels of the Irish Language].

His first monograph, Titley (2019), examines the work of the foremost contemporary writer of the Irish language and was shortlisted for the Oireachtas Book of the Year award. His edited collection on the same author, An Soiscéal de réir Alan Titley, was published in 2026.

Currently, Máirtín is working on a SSHRC-funded research project on the ethics and the internationality of translation in minority languages, with a focus on Irish.

He welcomes prospective graduate and post-doctoral students who share any of his interests, in particular those interested in Irish-language material.

Writing

Máirtín is also a creative writer, with poetry and short stories published in literary journals Comhar, The Stinging Fly, Poetry Ireland Review and Gorse. A number of his poems feature in the anthology Calling Cards (Gallery Press, 2019), with translations by Paul Muldoon.

A bilingual edition of his poem 'Cumhdach' [Shrine] was published as a limited edition letterpress chapbook by Kelly Library in the University of Toronto.

An Soiscéal de réir Alan Titley (2016)

Titley (2019)

Cumhdach (2019)

Sheila Eaton

Teaching

Teaching Interests

The Irish language, modern literature, translation, folklore, material book culture, literary history, creative writing

Publications

Selected Academic Publications

Edited Volumes
An Soiscéal de réir Alan Titley (Leabhar Breac, 2016)
An Scéim: An Gúm 1916-2016 (An Gúm, 2020)
Comhar Taighde, vol 1-4 (2015-2018)

Monograph
Titley (Leabhair Comhar, 2019)

Selected Essays and Chapters

‘Experimentalism and the Novel in Irish 1970-2000’ in The Cambridge History of the Irish Novel, edited by Chris Morash (Cambridge UP, 2026)


‘Irish-Language Translation as Internationalism? Gilbert Parker’s The Right of Way and Séamus Ó Grianna’s An Bealach Achtuighthe’ in A Nation, Not a Parish: The Homewheres and Elsewheres of 1930s Irish Culture, edited by Germán Asensio Peral et al (Peter Lang, 2025)


‘Dirt, Disease and the Body in Seán Ó Ríordáin’s Eireaball Spideoige’ in Études irlandaises 49 (2024)


‘ “Ag Fiadhach na Sidheog”: Cora Cainte agus Leaganacha Suntasacha ag Nioclás Tóibín in Eachtraí Hucailbeirí Finn’ in An Linn Bhuí 25 (2021)

‘Contemporary Theatre in the Irish Language’ in The Palgrave Handbook on Contemporary Irish Theatre and Performance, edited by E. Jordan and E. Weitz (Palgrave 2018)


‘Godots Arrivent: More Morality Plays for Our Times’ in Performing Ethos (2017)


‘ “Cold, Mocking, Unmerciful”? Rabelasianism in Irish Literature’ in American Journal of Irish Studies 13 (2016)

Participation

Talks and Advisory Activities

Máirtín has presented papers and guest lectures at conferences in Europe and North America, including ACIS, EFACIS, IASAIL and the Harvard Celtic Colloquium.

In 2018 and 2019, he organised two international conferences, in conjunction with Notre Dame University, on modern Irish writing. They were held in Kylemore Abbey, County Galway, and Spiddal, County Galway, respectively. In 2023 he hosted a conference on the Indigenous and the International at the School of Irish Studies in Concordia, funded by SSHRC.

Máirtín acts as a peer-reviewer for academic publications on modern Irish literature. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Irish-language research journal Comhar Taighde and the Irish Arts Council.

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