Review of Irish Studies (RISE), Vol. 4.2: Wrapping Our Heads Around Copies of This Book: To Medbh McGuckian at Seventy (Edited by Daniela Theinová)

RISE 4.2 is a festive anniversary tribute to one of Irelands most eminent poets Medbh McGuckian. Seven international scholars and leading experts on McGuckians work have come together in its pages to highlight important moments in the poets career by focussing on some of her individual collections, or trace developments across the expansive oeuvre. The articles to be found in this issue address McGuckians writing through a number of diverse foci. These range from the works engagement with political violence during the Troubles and their competing representations in cultural memory; through considerations of the commemorative thrust of individual poems and collections; and questions of knowledge, faith and scepticism; to the prominence of the image and the visual in McGuckians poetics. The issue comprises three new poems by McGuckian and an interview with the poet in which she reads and discusses poems from her recent work. Audio clips of these readings can be accessed from the text of the interview.