Author of DEADNAME

A former US representative at the Individual World Poetry Slam and a member of the historic Denver Mercury Cafe Slam Team at the US National Poetry Slam, Abhainn toured the USA as a featured poet in venues in San Francisco, Portland, and New York City. 

Their written work can be found in esteemed Irish & UK literary journals like Poetry Ireland Review, Banshee Lit, and Oxford Poetry, as well as US publishers like HAD, Frontier , and Hole in the Head Review. They were a finalist for the Jack McCarthy Book Prize in 2021 (Write Bloody) and longlisted for the Frontier New Voices Contest 2022. Their debut collection is forthcoming in 2023 with Write Bloody UK. 

Current themes sprout directly from the queer and trans experience - specifically the non-binary and femme experience. How is it to step into a (re)discovery or (re)invention of self - one not yet fully structured? What does it mean to be called something, to explore name and identity? How do we wrestle with the uncertainty inherent in transitions and love? And in what ways can the liberating and revelatory act of queer love and transitioning not only free queer folks, but all of us?