Cathy Galvin's debut Ethnology: features, radio & reviews
'...a book to return to, a book with real heft and stature.’ – Ian Pople, London Grip
Published by Bloodaxe Books in the UK and Ireland in February 2026, Cathy Galvin's first full-length book of poetry, Ethnology: a love song for Connemara, draws on the mystical cry for the dead of her Irish-speaking ancestors. Within an epic narrative she reclaims place, people and language, creating a bridge between our own times and a Connemara community on the margins of Europe. Drawing on classic forms within literary and oral traditions, Ethnology becomes a love song for Connemara, witness to vivid encounters: between the living and the dead and between the poets, folklorists and ethnologists who have written about the West of Ireland for their own agendas.
Cathy Galvin is a poet and a journalist, and has been a champion of other writers and writing, co-founding The Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award and founding and directing The Word Factory short story organisation. She has been nominated for a variety of awards including the Ilkley Poetry Prize and Listowel Poetry Prize and is the recipient of a Hawthornden Fellowship, Heinrich Böll (Achill Island) residency and an Arts Council England DYCP award. Her first full-length book of poetry, Ethnology: a love song for Connemara (Bloodaxe Books, February 2026), follows three pamphlet sequences of poetry, Black & Blue (Melos Press, 2014), Rough Translation (Melos Press, 2016) and Walking The Coventry Ring Road with Lady Godiva (Guillemot Press, 2019).
With roots in Coventry and Connemara, Cathy Galvin now lives near Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. She has events forthcoming across the UK and Ireland. She will be giving readings for the Irish communities in Nottingham (Five Leaves Bookshop, 9 March), Leicester (Emerald Centre, 10 March) and Coventry (Irish Society, 11 March), and will be in conversation with the Manchester Irish language group online on 19 March (she is learning Irish with the group).
For details of these and Cathy Galvin's forthcoming events in the UK and Ireland in Spring 2026, see: https://www.bloodaxebooks.com/events?articleid=1591
BOOKS FOR BREAKFAST PODCAST INTERVIEW
Books for Breakfast: 90: Cathy Galvin and John F. Deane, Thursday 2 April 2026
An in-depth interview with Cathy Galvin featured on the Books for Breakfast podcast of 2 April 2026. This was recorded at and before the Hodges Figgis Dublin launch of her first full-length poetry book Ethnology: a love song for Connemara. The episode began with a recording of host Enda Wyley’s introduction at the launch.
The section with Cathy Galvin began with her reading of the title poem ‘Ethnology’, recorded at the launch. She also read ‘Choosing What to Say to Dr Hyde’, the second part of her sequence ‘Mythology’ from Book Three: Love Songs of Connacht. She ended by reading section III of her sequence ‘After’ about the loss of her son.
Cathy Galvin was interviewed by hosts Enda Wylie and Peter Sirr. She spoke about her experience of travelling from Coventry to visit her family on Mason Island as a child, listening to the Irish language around her. She also talked about the historical background to the book.
‘I think Ethnology is a fascinating book by a real poet who embraces the precision of language while also digging deep into the music of memory, loss and, ultimately, love.’ – Enda Wyley, introducing Cathy Galvin’s interview
‘In this episode we go to one of our favourite places in Dublin, Hodges Figgis bookshop in Dawson Street, to interview Cathy Galvin on the occasion of the launch of her collection of poems from Bloodaxe, Ethnology: a love song for Connemara. We also meet and hear poet John F. Deane, who spoke about Cathy’s book and read some of his own recently published Carcanet collection, Jonah and Me, a Poetry Society Recommendation.’
John F Deane introduces Ethnology at 7:40. Cathy features from 15:50. Listen here.
ARTICLE BY CATHY GALVIN IN THE TABLET
The Tablet, Saturday 7 March 2026
An article by poet and journalist Cathy Galvin featured in The Tablet of 7 March. She was writing about her first full-length poetry book Ethnology: a love song for Connemara, focusing on the historical and family background to the book. The piece was illustrated with a colour photo of Cathy Galvin pictured in the ruined cottage she inherited on Mason Island off the coast of Connemara, and was accompanied by her poem ‘Ethnology’.
The article appeared in print in the 7 March 2026 issue. It is available online here (register to read for free). It ran under the headline:
‘A love song for Connemara: A writer has used poetry to reclaim what has been lost to her across borders of language, culture and understanding.’
REVIEW IN THE IRISH TIMES
The Irish Times, Saturday 7 March 2026
Cathy Galvin’s first full-length poetry book Ethnology: a love song for Connemara was given a wonderful review by Martina Evans in her poetry round-up in The Irish Times of 7 March 2026.
'Cathy Galvin's rich, complex Ethnology: A Love Song for Connemara is a history of Galvin's mother's native Mason Island and a tremendous elegy for her son whose heart is buried there [...] It is also a burning lyrical investigation into the power of language and those who use that power. Ethnology refers to the 'elites' - visitors such as folklorists or the ethnographer Charles R Browne, who as well as attempting to steal skulls from Inisboffin, measured the heads of islanders. [...] Galvin acknowledges the paradox that Ethnology owes as much to the elites' recordings as it does to the Irish language and her upbringing within an Irish family in England. [...] Galvin is verbally adept, a master of many forms, but perhaps it is the further paradox of being so close to a language she didn't understand as a child that creates this hungry, groundbreaking book, brimming with grief and desire'...' – Martina Evans, The Irish Times
The feature appeared in print on 7 March 2026. It is available online by subscription here.
INTERVIEW WITH CATHY GALVIN ON IRISH RADIO
Arena, RTÉ Radio 1, Thursday 5 March 2026, 7-8pm
Cathy Galvin was interviewed live down the line from Cornwall on RTÉ Radio 1’s Arena on 5 March ahead of her Dublin launch on 24 March. She was discussing her debut poetry book Ethnology: a love song for Connemara with host Rick O’Shea. She read her poems ‘Ethnology’ and ‘Choosing what to say to Dr Hyde’, part 2 of the sequence ‘Mythology’.
Cathy spoke in some detail about her involvement in the Haddon-Dixon Repatriation Project. She had campaigned alongside the people of Inishbofin Island and others from the west-coast community to secure the return and burial of human remains stolen in 1890 from burial grounds in the west of Ireland. The Anatomy Department at Trinity College Dublin acquired the remains in 1892 and displayed them as part of its Anthropological Collection. Cathy writes more about this in her article in The Tablet (see above).
Final item, from 50:34. A link to the full progamme is here.
A separate podcast of Cathy Galvin's interview is here.
ONLINE POEM FEATURES FOR ETHNOLOGY
Proletarian Poetry, online 22 February 2026
A poem from Cathy Galvin’s first full-length poetry book Ethnology: a love song for Connemara was featured online in Proletarian Poetry. The piece was illustrated with a colour photograph of the view from Diamond Hill in Connemara National Park. Cathy grew up in Coventry, with Irish roots in the far west of Ireland in Connemara. She now lives near Bodmin Moor in Cornwall.
The featured poem is ‘An Ghaeltacht’ which refers to recognised regions of Ireland where Irish is the predominant language.
‘In Cathy Galvin’s brilliant debut collection Ethnology: a love song for Connemara published by Bloodaxe Books, she portrays the impact of migrancy, both inward and outward. […] Cathy has written a beautiful paean to her Irish roots in Connemara and Coventry.’ – Peter Raynard, Proletarian Poetry
https://proletarianpoetry.com/2026/02/22/an-ghaeltacht-by-cathy-galvin/
Creative Writing at Leicester, online 4 March 2026
Two poems from Cathy Galvin’s Ethnology: a love song for Connemara were featured online on Creative Writing at Leicester’s website. Cathy is a PhD Creative Writing candidate at the University of Leicester. The featured poems were ‘Walls’ and ‘Coventry Carol’.
https://creativewritingatleicester.blogspot.com/2026/03/cathy-galvin-ethnology-love-song-for.html
BBC RADIO CORNWALL INTERVIEW WITH CATHY GALVIN
Upload with Daniel Pascoe, BBC Radio Cornwall & BBC Radio Devon, Thursday 19 February 2026, 6pm (repeated Saturday 21 February, 7pm, on BBC Radio Devon)
An interview with North Cornwall-based poet Cathy Galvin was broadcast on BBC Radio Cornwall and BBC Radio Devon on the Upload with Daniel Pascoe show. She was in conversation with Will Marshall about her first full-length poetry book Ethnology: a love song for Connemara.
The interview was divided into two parts. In the first section Cathy spoke about poetry, and about how she came to the artform later in life after working for many years as a journalist. In the second part she discussed her debut poetry book Ethnology.
Available on BBC Sounds until 21 March 2026, 8pm. Cathy Galvin features at 07:40 (intro & clip); 38:00 (main interview part 1); and 1:32:49 (main interview part 2).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002r1fb
ONLINE REVIEW COVERAGE
London Grip, online 21 February 2026
An excellent review of Cathy Galvin’s first full-length poetry book Ethnology: a love song for Connemara went online in London Grip on 21 February 2026, the week of publication.
‘Ethnology: a love song for Connemara is a tightly focused book. It pursues its themes with a laser-like precision. But Galvin’s world never feels monolithic. For all its emphasis on loss of both people and place, there lies beneath that an abundant sense of life, its meaning and its worth. This is, as the cliché often suggests, a book to return to, a book with real heft and stature.’ – Ian Pople, London Grip
https://londongrip.co.uk/2026/02/london-grip-poetry-review-cathy-galvin/
The High Window, Spring 2026, online 24 February 2026
Cathy Galvin’s Ethnology: a love song for Connemara was well reviewed online in the Spring 2026 issue of The High Window.
‘…a collection that is rooted in the landscape and nuances of Máisean Island and its past inhabitants. Galvin also questions what home and belonging mean when family roots have left their point of origin.’ – Emma Lee, The High Window
https://thehighwindowpress.com/2026/02/24/the-high-window-reviews-spring-2026/#Cathy%20Galvin
ARTICLE BY CATHY GALVIN IN THE IRISH POST
The Irish Post, Saturday 14 February 2026
An article by Cathy Galvin was featured in The Irish Post, the UK’s newspaper for the Irish community, accompanied by colour photos of Cathy pictured at the ruined cottage in Ireland which is at the heart of her book. The article ran under the headline and standfirst ‘Walking with ghosts on Mason Island: Poet Cathy Galvin returns to a vanished island community off the coast of Connemara, listening to the voices that refuse to fall silent’.
'I would not survive for long as an islander. I don't know how to build or re-roof; how to weave or sow; how to live off the land or sea; how to build a currach or a coffin. What I can make is the shape of words and offer them back to my great-grandfather who, in an early census, was described in this way: 'Farmer, cannot read or write.' – Cathy Galvin, writing in The Irish Post
In print only.
~~~~~
ONLINE LAUNCH
Tuesday 24 February 2026, online launch reading by Polly Clark, Cathy Galvin and Penelope Shuttle
Bloodaxe's joint online launch event for new February 2026 titles by Polly Clark, Cathy Galvin and Penelope Shuttle is now on YouTube. All three poets were celebrating the publication of their new books by reading live and discussing their work with the host, Bloodaxe editor Neil Astley.
This free Bloodaxe launch event was streamed on YouTube Live and is now available on this YouTube page: https://youtube.com/live/XA38CZZs9yE.
Excellent readings by all three poets, followed by a very lively discussion. Cathy Galvin reads second in each set.
[19 February 2026]
