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Biography
Celia de Fréine is a poet, playwright and screenwriter who writes in Irish and English.
She was born in Newtownards, County Down and moved to Dublin as a child. Retaining strong links with Northern Ireland, she spent most of her summers with her extended family in Donaghadee.
She now divides her time between Dublin and Connemara.
Poetry
Celia has published ten collections of poetry:
2022 Léaslíne a Lorg : In Search of a Horizon (Arlen House)
2020 I bhFreagairt ar Rilke : In response to Rilke (Arlen House)
2014 Blood Debts (Scotus Press)
2014 A lesson in Can’t (Scotus Press)
2014 cuir amach seo dom : riddle me this (Arlen House)
2011 Aibítir Aoise : Alphabet of an Age (Arlen House)
2010 imram : odyssey (Arlen House)(2nd edition 2019)
2005 Scarecrows at Newtownards (Scotus Press)
2004 Fiacha Fola (Cló Iar-Chonnacht)
2000 Faoi Chabáistí is Ríonacha (Cló Iar-Chonnacht)
In 2022 LeabhairCOMHAR published Aoi ag Bord na Teanga (New & Selected Poems).
Drama
Celia's plays have been widely produced and won many awards.
In 2023 LeabhairCOMHAR published Leanaí Séanta, a collection of three plays, which includes Cathú winner of an Oireachtas Award in 2015.
Four other plays have won Oireachtas Awards: Anraith Neantóige; Cóirín na dTonn; Tearmann; and Meanmarc. The first three of these plays were published in a collection, entitled Mná Dána, by Arlen House in 2009. In 2012 Arlen House published two more of Celia's plays, Desire : Meanmarc and Plight: Cruachás along with her translation and dramatization of Brian Merriman’s Cúirt an Mheán Oíche : The Midnight Court. Her dramatization of Cúirt an Mheán Oíche in Irish, with a glossary by Fidelma Ní Ghalalchobhair, was published by LeabhairCOMHAR IN 2017.
In 2009 the Abbey Theatre commissioned Celia’s play Casadh as part of the Gach Áit Eile series.
Na Deoraithe, commissioned by COGG and first published in Blúiríní (COGG, 2015), is a recommended text on the Junior Certificate course.
Film and Television
Celia has also worked in film and television. She was a scriptwriter for the TG4 series Ros na Rún between 1997 and 1999. The first script which she wrote was shortlisted for the Celtic Film and Television Festival in 1998. Celia worked with filmmaker Biju Viswanath to develop a series of short films based on her poems. Her screenplay for the film Marathon was given the award for best screenplay at the New York International Film Festival in 2009. The short film Rian : Trace which she conceived and wrote was given the award for best international narrative short at the same festival in 2010.
Opera
Celia wrote the libretto for the opera, The Earl of Kildare (music composed by Fergus Johnston). In 2009 Living Opera, in association with Opera Ireland, presented a showcase performance of the opera at the Mermaid Arts Centre in Bray.
Awards
Film and Televison
2011 Duais an Oireachtais (script teilifíse, Cuir i gCás)
2010 Best international short (with Biju Viswanath) New York
International Film Festival (Rian : Trace)
2009 Best screenplay (with Biju Viswanath) New York
International Film Festival (Marathon)
Poetry
2020 Arts Council Bursary
2020 Arts Council Covid-19 Crisis Response Award
2013 Arts Council Bursary
2004 Gradam Litríochta Chló Iar-Chonnachta (Fiacha Fola)
2003 Smurfit/Lá International Poetry Award Samhain Festival
(Dán)
1999 Duais Aitheantais Ghradam Litríochta Chló Iar-Chonnachta
(Faoi Chabáistí is Ríonacha)
1997 Arts Council Bursary
1996 Comórtas Filíochta Dhún Laoghaire Rath an Dúin (Dán)
1994 Patrick Kavanagh Award
Drama
2010 Duais an Oireachtais (dráma ilghníomh, Meanmarc)
2006 Duais an Oireachtais (dráma ilghníomh, Tearmann)
2006 Duais Fhoras na Gaeilge Listowel Writers’ Week
(Tearmann)
2005 Duais an Oireachtais (dráma ilghníomh Cóirín na dTonn)
2003 Duais an Oireachtais (dráma ilghníomh, Anraith
Neantóige)
2000 Arts Council Bursary
Translation
1999 British Comparative Literature Association Translation
Award
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