Doire Press, 2017

Amanda’s debut collection from Doire Press was shortlisted for the Shine Strong Poetry Award for best first collection published in Ireland in 2017.

It includes the poem ‘Points’, originally published in The Irish Times, which was shortlist for the Listowel Writers Week Poem of the Year at the Bórd Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards 2017.

Featuring a set of arrow heads as cover image, First the Feathers returns to the theme of human/animal relationships in many forms. Also included is ‘The Ballad of Mary Ann Cadden’, a traditional ballad about an infamous Irish woman from the mid-twentieth century, who was sentenced to death for providing abortion services.