Moira O'Neill

Born Agnes Shakespeare Higginson in 1864, she wrote under the pen name Moira O'Neill and became closely associated with Cushendun in County Antrim. Her poems are remembered for their lively ear for speech, affection for local people and places, and strong sense of Irish landscape and tradition.

She published work including Songs of the Glens of Antrim and More Songs of the Glens of Antrim, which helped make her one of the best-loved voices writing in Ulster dialect. The poems often feel intimate and conversational, mixing humor, tenderness, and careful observation of everyday life.

Later in life she also spent time in Canada, but her reputation remains most strongly tied to the Glens of Antrim and the literary identity she created around them. She died in 1955, and her work is still valued for its melody, regional character, and heartfelt picture of community life.