Michael Hartnett (Micheál Ó hAirtnéide)

Limerick poet who in A Farewell to English (1975) publicly renounced English and wrote only in Irish for a decade — then returned to both. Translator of Ó Bruadair, Ó Rathaille and Haicéad. A genuinely bilingual imagination and a tragic, alcohol-shortened life. The Michael Hartnett Poetry Award and Éigse Michael Hartnett, Newcastle West, commemorate him.