Cáit O’Neill McCullagh

An archaeologist, curator, educator and essayist, Cáit started writing poetry in December 2020. Since then, she’s had numerous poems published in journals, anthologies and exhibitions, including: Northwords Now, Poetry Scotland, Ink Sweat & Tears, Howl: New Irish Writing, New Writing Scotland, The Storms, The Poets Republic. Her poems and essays, literary criticism and reviews have appeared in anthologies: ’Beyond the Swelkie’, ‘Bella Caledonia: An Anthology of Writing from 2007 – 2021’, ‘Not the Time to be Silent: Collected Works’, and the forthcoming ‘We Need to Talk About Knives.’ She’s been a guest reader at festivals and gatherings throughout Scotland and Ireland.

In 2022, Cáit was Co-winner, with Sinéad McClure, of Dreich’s ‘Classic Chapbook Competition’ for their co-authored pamphlet 'The songs I sing are sisters'. Her first full collection will be published by Drunk Muse Press in early 2024. A trustee of Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre, and The Wee Gaitherin she is committed to supporting opportunities for fellow poets, including those who, like herself, come from backgrounds where becoming a poet seems an unimaginable possibility. 

She continues to outrun a diagnosis of cancer identified spring 2022, and writing her PhD research carried out with communities throughout Orkney and Shetland. This has included co-creating new writing and films exploring how people co-curating their own cultural expressions can counter previously marginalising narratives, and contribute to imagining more possible futures. See https://linktr.ee/caitjomac