“Since my childhood the voice of Grace O’Malley has ever been in my ear. Pirate Queen...Warrior Woman...legendary chieftain...Was she real or mythical? Somehow and for some reason her factual story remained hidden...kept at bay by generations of Irish analysts and historians. This lead me on a long voyage of discovery to find the ‘real’ Grace through the musty letters and records of 16th century English administrators and military men who came to conquer her country and who, ironically, were the only ones to leave contemporary evidence of my heroine behind and thereby authenticate her existence as well as provide details of her remarkable life.
In this innovative and vivid collection, using poetry as her ‘river’ to discovery and interpretation, Jennifer Liston follows a similar voyage. Grace Notes enshrines both the factual and legendary biographical life of Grace O’Malley through a unique poetic medium. In an, at times, intensely emotional encounter and conversation, the reader accompanies this iconic woman who, despite the passage of over four hundred years continues to shine as an inspirational beacon, on a journey through her remarkable life.”
Anne Chambers
Author, Grace O’Malley: The Biography of Ireland’s Pirate Queen, 1530-1603 (Gill Books)
“Like a pirate queen of old, Jennifer Liston is salvaging the material of Gráinne Mhaol, Ireland’s great chieftain and pirate queen of the 16th century with verve and invention. She not only pays tribute to a neglected ancestral female figure but brings her to life for us in the 21st century through these fresh and recuperative voicings. What is particularly ingenious about this book is the way Liston has written through the historical sources, whether using her own unique procedure of creating rescued poems from words in other texts or creating poems in direct response to the events of Gráinne Mhaol’s life, that ‘Woman with ships in her heart, on her mind’. This is, as Liston writes, ‘such a loaded history’ yet it has been often overlooked. But now, we can hear it anew through these resonant and celebratory poems, intoxicated by language and history.”
Jill Jones
Poet and lecturer
“True-life adventure, biography and history inform and energise this exhilarating collection. With insight and empathy, Jennifer Liston speaks for Gráinne Mhaol the 16th century pirate queen at the most dire and triumphant moments of her extraordinary life. The interspersed lyrical fragments evoke Irish legends and beliefs and add an uncanny time depth to the drama on land and sea.”
Jan Owen
Poet and translator
“Vivid, intense, deeply personal and intimately imagined, the voice of Ireland’s 16th century pirate queen, Grace O’Malley, comes to life in this enthralling book. Jennifer Liston has created a many-sided portrait of a very pragmatic feminist visionary finding her own way through evil times.”
Peter Boyle
Poet and translator
“Her procedural poetry…adds significantly to the line of such poetry in modern and postmodern writing - in both her poems and poetics. The idea of the ‘rescued poem’ is indubitably her own…”
Jerome Rothenberg
Poet, anthologist, translator and editor
Jennifer Liston was born in Limerick and grew up in Gort, County Galway. She recently returned to live in Ireland after living in Australia (Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide). She has written three previous poetry collections and one chapbook. Jennifer performed some of the poems and songs from this collection in her five sold-out solo shows ‘Grace O’Malley, Irish Rebel, Pirate Queen’ at the Adelaide Fringe Festival 2020 and in regional South Australia. Her poems have appeared in several journals and anthologies including Jacket2, The Canberra Times, The Australian Poetry Anthology, The Found Poetry Review, Cordite Poetry Review, Transnational Literature and Best Australian Poems. Jennifer has performed her poems at numerous Irish and Australian poetry events and on radio in Ireland and Australia. She holds a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Adelaide, Australia. Jennifer is also a singer songwriter and keyboard player. She played keyboards and sang backing vocals in many originals bands while living in Australia.
(W: http://jenniferliston.com W: http://rescuedpoetry.com)
