Angeline, your new novel, The Secret Diary of Stephanie Agnew, explores Ulster Scots and Gaelic identity. Tell us more.
The novel is set in 1995 and explores identity, heritage and conflict, often with humour. Although it was written as part of a PhD in creative writing at Ulster University, it was also influenced by an accidental project with writer Ciarán Ó Maitiú. A small team of real-life genealogical detectives came together, all of us interested in the Ó Gnímh poets of Larne, who were of Scottish/Irish background and lived four centuries ago.
You grew up in Larne and were raised with Ulster Scots-speaking parents. Is the Gaelic legacy of the Ó Gnímh family well known in Larne, or Laharna as it sometimes called?
The Ó Gnímh family went by the name Agnew, and there are many Agnew families still in the area. However, I’d say the poetic heritage of the town has been largely forgotten. In 2019, the year before I started doing a PhD, I came across the Ó Gnímh family of Larne, who may have been linked to the Agnews of Galloway. Some Agnews of Larne were Scots speakers in the 1600s and lived cheek by jowl with families who spoke Irish or perhaps Scottish Gaelic. No identity silos there. Collectively, their names, placenames, letters and poems still give us a sense of their unique voice.
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Ciarán, how did an Irish-language writer brought up bilingually in Kildare end up working with Angeline on a project concerning the Ó Gnímh bards of Kilwaughter?
The shared Gaelic heritage between Ireland and Scotland has always fascinated me. Since viewing Agnews’ Hill, Kilwaughter from the Larne to Scotland ferry many years ago, I have wanted to find out more about the local Ó Gnímhs. In 2021, I discovered that Angeline and other Agnew enthusiasts seemed equally curious about them. Four of us decided to meet in the Larne Arts Centre. The other two were Ryan Greer, who’d just taken over the Kilwaughter Castle, and Jacqueline Agnew, who’d written the Kilwaughter Castle Agnew family history.
And do you remember much about how things developed after that, Angeline?
We talked so much about all our findings that the centre closed, and we had to run across to my house and order in fish and chips. During the second meeting, we toured all the local townlands and then we were joined by the band Lí Ban and senior archaeologist, Paul Logue. We met in the stunning environs of Ballygally Castle and listened to Aoibheann Devlin’s (Lí Ban) magical harp music. This event gave me some sensory descriptions for a scene in the novel, which is set in the castle.
Sounds exciting to have the history come together from so many angles.
It was a wee bit quirky too, and the eccentric adventure fed into the characters in the novel as two parallel searches took place – the real-life genealogical search and Stephanie’s fictional one. The collaboration culminated in a recital in Kilwaughter Village Hall in 2022, the 400-year anniversary of Kilwaughter Castle. The castle sadly sits in ruins today.
Has the project helped with your literary endeavours since then as a writer, Ciarán?
The project has happily led to new opportunities, including contributing articles to newspapers, writing blogs, poems, songs, being involved in another cross-Border project (Cill Dara) and authoring a historical paper for The Glynns (2024).
Your debut novel Grúgarú agus an Sionnaigh Liatha (Grúgarú and the Grey Foxes), won the Oireachtas na Gaeilge national prize for young readers, ages 9-12, and has had extracts published and broadcast. Tell us more about that.
It’s an action-packed story about a lonely young harper who rescues a young fox cub one Christmas – which could be described as a combination of Tarka the Otter, The Three Musketeers and Kidnapped. Buíochas mór le Raidió na Life, Raidió Fáilte, narrator Niamh Ní Mhaonaigh, and Seachtain, The Irish Independent.
And what about your work since the project, Angeline?
I am a novelist, but my protagonist was interested in poetry. Poetry seemed to flow easily for me because of all this material. Some of “Stephanie’s poems” ended up in Community Arts Partnership anthologies. Also, I studied French and history back in the 1990s at university and had already written a history book on the festival tradition of Irish dancing, so it was natural that I ended up writing a history paper for Ulster Historical Foundation’s Familia on the Antrim-based “Ogneeves”/Agnews and their links to Galloway.
Might it be possible then that the Agnew family of Galloway had Gaelic roots?
Absolutely, though family lore, recorded in a book in the 1800s, has meant that many genealogists believe the male line to be Norman. Seeing the names of Irish-speaking Presbyterians from Galloway in 1650s Larne was interesting for me. Also, I loved looking at the Ó Gnímh poems and reading the English translations. I hope to make it to Trinity College to see the original poems soon.
What will you take away from this work, Angeline?
There was a particularly powerful moment during the recital when Fear Flatha Ó Gnímh’s poem to Sir Henry O’Neill of Clandeboye was recited. As I read the English version, composed by Ciarán, I became very conscious that the ollamh’s poem was being performed locally again, possibly for the first time since the 1620s, the verse about the cuckoo being especially poignant – “Do ye know, ye face of light, the cuckoo loves summer bright? Falls silent now, stays down low, ‘til summers warmth makes its’ show.” These poets lived during a very sad period of our history, though they chose to be loyal to the crown on several occasions.
Which links up nicely with the issue of identity in your novel?
Yes, the protagonist is anxious about her inheritance as a “planter” or “coloniser”.
A story with an identity twist?
Stephanie belonging to the same clan as the bards ... all loving Laharna? Maybe!
The Secret Diary of Stephanie Agnew is published by Leschenault Press
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