Paddy Bushe was born in Dublin but has lived overlooking Ballinskelligs Bay for more than fifty years.

A former teacher, he is a poet, editor and translator in both English and Irish, and is a member of Aosdána. Although much of his poetry originated in travels in Nepal, China, Morocco and Greenland, the primary and longstanding source of his work has been the land and seascape of his adoptive home, especially the evolving culture inherent in it.

Work in this area led to his being awarded a doctorate in Creative Writing in 2022.

Book Launch

The Amergin Step, for which the author was awarded a Ph.D in 2022 by University College, Cork,  is named after the famous poem that Leabhar Gabhála Éireann tells us was recited by the poet and lawmaker of the Gaelic Milesian people, as he stepped ashore in Ballinskelligs Bay after their voyage from Galicia. Contemporary and historical literature, folklore, myth, archaeology and placenames are explored by the author at the same time as he explores the mountains, sea and islands of the tip of the Iveragh peninsula to uncover the stories that have animated them from earliest to present times. The Milesians, Skellig Michael and other early Christian sites, as well as the literary voice of the Derrynane O’Connells, are among the stories discovered in this spectacular landscape. The Amergin Step is also a call for an imaginative step into the places we inhabit so that, like Amergin’s poem, we can try to identify with our places rather than own them. Our survival, the book argues, depends on taking this step.