Máire Mhac an tSaoi: A scholar and poet unparalleled

Then-President Mary McAleese and Máire Mhac an tSaoi who presented the president with a book of her poems in 2011. The poet was said to have 'dragged Irish-language poetry screaming and kicking' into the 20th century. Photo: Maura Hickey

Máire Mhac an tSaoi was born in 1922, making her The Same Age as the State, as the title of her 2003 autobiography says. 

Both her life and her work were remarkable. One of the finest Irish 20th-century poets in either language, she published five collections of poetry in Irish between 1956 and 1999, starting with Margadh na Saoire [“The Hiring-Fair”].