Liverpool Irish Festival: Sonja Tiernan: Eva Gore-Booth: Irish radical poet, rebel and reformer

The Irish poet and activist Eva Gore-Booth (1870-1926) led a life defiantly at odds with her aristocratic origins. Choosing to live and work among the poor of Manchester, she campaigned on behalf of barmaids, circus performers, flower sellers and pit-brow lasses, her partner, Esther Roper, at her side.

Gore-Booth was tireless in her pursuit of justice. She was a militant pacifist during the First World War, a champion of Irish independence and a pioneering thinker on gender and sexuality. She was also a prolific author, publishing nineteen volumes of poetry and prose that reflect the full force of her radical convictions.

Professor Sonja Tiernan’s landmark biography celebrates Gore-Booth’s life and work in the context of our current political climate and reclaims her place as a significant figure of Anglo-Irish letters and an unsung hero of LGBT+ history.

Link: Eva Gore-Booth: Irish radical poet, rebel and reformer.

This event is supported by The Institute of Irish Studies at University of Liverpool and Professor Tiernan’s publisher Manchester University Press.