THE CHARLES A. HEIMBOLD JR. CHAIR

Mary O’Donoghue is an award-winning poet, fiction writer, editor and translator and the 2023 Heimbold Chair of Irish Studies at Villanova University.

Originally from Co. Clare, Ireland, O’Donoghue now divides her time between Boston, Massachusetts, where she teaches in the Arts and Humanities division at Babson College, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where she lives with her husband and stepdaughter. She is the author of the novel Before the House Burns (The Lilliput Press, 2010) and the poetry collections Among These Winters (Dedalus Press, 2007) and Tulle (Salmon Poetry, 2001). Her inspiration to become a writer stemmed from the amity and solidarity books offered: “Books seemed to be in cahoots with the reader and with other books, and I must have wanted to join the camaraderie—though it took me a long time to chime in.”

O’Donoghue’s forthcoming short story collection will be published by Stinging Fly Press in 2023. “I’m fortunate indeed to have the faith of Stinging Fly Press…Stinging Fly Press is devoted to the short story form and does not see it as throat-clearing in a writer’s career. It’s a hugely admirable ethos—an uncommon one—and, I dare to say, a particularly Irish spirit.”

Her fiction has appeared in many notable US and European publications including Subtropics, The Common, Granta, Georgia Review, Kenyon Review, Irish Times, Sunday Times UK, Stinging Fly, Dublin Review, and elsewhere. O’Donoghue has also been published for her translations in Leabhar na hAthghabhala / Poems of Repossession (Bloodaxe Books/ Clo Iar-Chonnachta, 2016) and Sean O Riordain Selected Poems (Yale University Press, 2014). “Translation has kept me close to the Irish language and maintained my commitment to its literature. This seems important for an Irish writer who has made her career in the US. Further, translation steeps me in the sounds and shapes of poetry, and, in that, it keeps me honest when I return to my own sentences in fiction.”

O'Donoghue's writing awards include two artist's fellowships from Massachusetts Cultural Council (2006 and 2012), Irish Times’ “Legends of the Fall” prize for short fiction in response to Ireland's economic crisis (2013), and residencies at Vermont Studio Center and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.

At Villanova, O’Donoghue will teach a course focused on modern Irish literature and translation. “Students will encounter the sounds and shapes of 20th century Irish-language literature and study the long historical relationship between two languages—Irish and English—in light of the politics of translation. I intend the class to be immersive: students will join me in the practice of translation.” She will also visit and collaborate with other writing and literature-based courses, including “Authors on and off the Page” in tandem with the Villanova Literary Festival. “In these classes, students can expect to encounter many provocative questions raised by modern and contemporary Irish literature. I want students to be weekly enriched—and ready to take pleasure and perplexity in equally productive measures.”

O’Donoghue is extremely excited to be working and interacting with the Villanova community. “I look forward to living and teaching at Villanova, meeting new colleagues and students, availing myself of the rich calendar of Irish Studies events, and contributing to them as I am able. And I look forward to editing my short story collection while at Villanova and working on my next novel. Given the roster of my Heimbold predecessors, it seems a propitious space! I’m immeasurably grateful for the chance to write and think within your community.”