McBreen, Joan, 1947-

Joan McBreen, Irish poet and teacher, was born on September 10, 1947 in Sligo, Ireland to Bernard and Patricia Collery. She attended Sion Hill Froebel College of Education and the National University of Ireland, and in 1970 married Joe McBreen. In 1990, McBreen published her first volume of poetry, THE WIND BEYOND THE WALL. Subsequent volumes followed, including A WALLED GARDEN IN MOYLOUGH (1995), WINTER IN THE EYE: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS (2003), and HEATHER ISLAND (2009). McBreen earned a degree in Women's Studies from the University of Dublin in 1997, and her master's dissertation research focused on modern Irish women poets. This research informed her role as editor of THE WHITE PAGE: TWENTIETH-CENTURY IRISH WOMEN POETS, an anthology she published in 1999. She has also edited THE WATCHFUL HEART: A NEW GENERATION OF IRISH POETS, POEMS, AND ESSAYS (2009), an anthology featuring the work of twenty-four Irish poets born in the last fifty years. In 2004, she released a CD entitled THE LONG LIGHT ON THE LAND - SELECTED POEMS, which included McBreen reading her poetry to a background of traditional Irish music.