Author: Isolde ÓBrolcháin Carmody

Isolde was born in Dublin in 1977 to a family of professional musicians. Her upbringing and education included access to books of Irish myths, legends and fairy-tales, family visits to megalithic monuments, and a thorough dinner-table discourse. She is in the rare position of being at least fourth generation university graduate on both sides of her family. She began her academic career with a BA in Philosophy and English Literature, and won a scholarship that facilitated her post-graduate studies. As an undergraduate, she led a busy extra-curricular life, involving herself in the Greens and the Trinity Literary Society. Isolde left her home in Dublin in 1999, and moved up to Leitrim to further her work with Chris. As their work developed, Isolde took the opportunity afforded by her scholarship to pursue a Masters in Early Irish. This was only possible through extensive use of Braille and assistive technology to compensate for her life-long visual impairment. However, the specialisation involved in using technology for a subject like Old Irish, meant that she felt that the degree should have been in IT, not Old Irish! Her return to the subject now is greatly facilitated by the amount of material now available in digital formats, not least eDIL, the online dictionary of Old Irish, and CELT, UCC's excellent collection of digitized texts. In the meantime, Isolde qualified as a community drama facilitator, working with Leitrim Youth Theatre, Longford libraries, and in schools and community groups around the North-West. She has also worked as a professional stage performer, including “Theatre in the Street” performances with Hit and Myth alongside Chris.