author
Moira O'Neill
1864–1955
Best known for lyrical poems rooted in the landscapes and speech of County Antrim, this Irish-Canadian writer published under the name Moira O'Neill. Her work blends local color, songlike rhythms, and a strong sense of place that helped make Songs of the Glens her most remembered book.
1 Audiobook
Songs of the Glens of Antrim
by Moira O'Neill
About the author
Moira O'Neill was the pen name of Agnes Shakespear Higginson, a poet and novelist born in 1864 who became closely associated with Cushendun in County Antrim. Although born in Mauritius, she drew much of her literary inspiration from the Glens of Antrim, and her writing is especially remembered for its ballads and regional voice.
She published poetry and fiction, but her reputation rests most firmly on verse inspired by Irish rural life. Songs of the Glens is the work most often linked with her name, and readers have long valued its musical language and vivid feeling for landscape and community.
Later in life she was also connected with Canada through her marriage and time spent in Alberta, which helps explain why she is sometimes described as an Irish-Canadian author. No suitable verified portrait image was confirmed from the sources reviewed, so no profile image is included.