Xesús Fraga was born in London, but later moved to Coruña and Betanzos. He is one of only four Galician-language writers to have won the Spanish National Book Award for Fiction, which he received for his novel Virtues (and Mysteries) (2020). A graduate in journalism from Salamanca University, he has worked for the newspaper La Voz de Galicia in the sections ‘Galicia’ and ‘Culture’. He writes both adult and young adult fiction. Virtues (and Mysteries) also received the Blanco Amor and the Galician Critics’ Awards. Other titles include Tute for Four (2000), A-Z (2003) and Solimán (2004). His two YA titles, The White Elephant (2013) and Reo (2015), received the Sarmiento and the Queen Lupa Awards respectively and deal with the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Fraga has translated important works into Galician, including The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes and Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.

Book Launch: Tortuga. The Irish Tortoise. Tales from the Camino de Santiago

October 10, 2019. 6pm

An Seomra Caidrimh

Each language has a value in itself that transcends a mere collection of interchangeable words from one code to another. Each language has a particular way of analysing and reflecting reality, of moulding it in thought. This is the basic precept of what is known as linguistic relativity and according to this, the fewer languages spoken, the poorer our view of the world as a species will be. Leaving behind early stages of this approach such as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, the principle of Boas-Jakobson suggests that different languages influence their speaker’s minds, however not due to what each language allows to think but rather due to the patterns of information each language habitually obliges people to think about. Furthermore, according to Guy Deutscher (2010), speech habits, which are imprinted from an early age, can create habits of mind that have far-reaching consequences beyond speaking, as they affect orientation skills and even patterns of memory.

The Irish Centre for Galician Studies is delighted with the upcoming publication of the book byour director Dr Martín Veiga. This poetry collection, called "Diary of Crosses Green" and launched by FB Publishers, is now available to English speaking audiences thanks to the translation by Keith Payne. 

 The journal Galicia 21. Journal of Contemporary Galician Studies, edited by David Miranda-Barreiro (Bangor University) and Martín Veiga (University College Cork), celebrates its 10th anniversary with the publication of a special issue (H) on theatre studies entitled 'Chamada a escena: o teatro galego no século XXI' and edited by Iolanda Ogando González (Universidad de Extremadura) and Elisa Serra Porteiro (University College Cork). Congratulations!

“Como eu vexo e eu vi” Alfonso X in the Cantigas de Santa María is the title of the Seminar that will be offered by Manuel Magán Abollo, researcher by the University of Santiago de Compostela next 8th of February at ORB 1.24 (4pm).

Irish Centre for Galician Studies, University College Cork

O'Rahilly Building G27a (Mary Ryan Meeting Room)

Tuesday 9th October 2018

This symposium seeks to explore some of the multiple facets that define contemporary Galician poetry and will provide an overview of its most innovative critical and poetic discourses: from an analysis of domesticity and the value of home in the poetry of Lupe Gómez, one of the most radical voices in Galician poetry today, to the transgressive rewritings of the medieval Galician-Portuguese songbooks carried out in Erín Moure's poetry; from the impact of a new generation of young poets that has emerged in recent years, effectively conquering important spaces within the field, to the dynamic notion of poetry translation as creative practice. Speakers at the symposium include academics, poets and translators.

October 4th. O Rahilly Building. First Floor 1.24

April 27th — 12:45 — North Wing Room