Scott De Buitléir

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Scott De Buitléir releases second bilingual poetry collection, with foreword from Scottish Gaelic writer, Marcas Mac an Tuairneir

Love during lockdown, childhood memories, gay rights history, and spirituality are just some of the themes covered in Elysium // Párthas, the new poetry collection from Scott De Buitléir. 

With his second collection of poems written in both English and Irish, De Buitléir has added to the literary canons of both gay Irish poetry and Irish-language poetry, building upon the work featured in his début collection, Fás / Growth, in 2017. Since then, he has read his poetry at several literary events, including the Edinburgh Gaelic Festival. In that cross-Celtic sense, it is fitting that this new collection features a foreword from fellow gay Gaelic writer, Marcas Mac an Tuairneir, who hails the new release as “filled with confident articulation of emotion, relationships, politics, and appraisal of the world we live in”.

With references to key moments in LGBT history at home and abroad, from the horrors of the AIDS crisis to the introduction of marriage equality in Ireland, Elysium // Párthas blends the personal with the political, noting that much of the liberties the poet enjoys today at home and while travelling, are “a people’s past laid down on a patchwork path”, humbly acknowledging the battles fought hard for equality. There are many other more personal yet relatable themes, also, from school bullying to falling in love, and from family ties to mourning over those we’ve lost. 

Speaking on the release of his latest collection, Scott De Buitléir said: 

“It has been wonderful to collect and translate these poems from their original language into either English or Irish, depending on which language was used first. They are deeply personal poems, but hopefully quite relatable also, especially as some deal with common themes of family, love, and loss. As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, also, it’s important to acknowledge what we’ve all been through, which is why two poems focus on the lockdown and our collective sacrifices made, and those we’ve lost to the virus. Overall, I hope the reader enjoys this new collection in both languages.”

Elysium // Párthas, published by MKB Publishing, is available in paperback and eBook formats from November 29. Visit https://scottdebuitleir.com/ for more information. The collection is available on Amazon (https://amzn.to/3HowC0k) or Smashwords (https://bit.ly/3cg32Mi). 

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Scott is available for interview by e-mailing hello@scottdebuitleir.com.

About Scott De Buitléir: Scott is an author and poet from Clontarf in Dublin, writing poetry, fiction, and non-fiction in both the Irish and English languages for over 15 years. His published works include Fás / Growth (2017), The Irish Outlander (2018), Yesterdates (2019), and Forgiving Jake (2020). He is founder of the LGBT publication, EILE Magazine (eile.ie) and the Nottingham Writers Collective. He now lives in Cork City with his partner.