Irish Central Review of Little Witness.
Emmanuel Touhey does it again: Here’s another review he wrote for Irish Central: “An Irish poet in America recalls the dark secrets of her youth”
Exceptional Offaly Person of the Year 2016: Connie Roberts
I’m thrilled to announce the wonderful news that the Executive Committee of the Tullamore Show has selected me as the Exceptional Offaly Person of the Year 2016. I will be presented with the award at the Tullamore Show on August 14th.
Irish Times Review: “Connie Roberts, a poetic witness who will not be silenced”
Powerful review from Emmanuel Touhey:
“It is a haunting and harrowing accounting of a beleaguered young life. These poems are not for the faint of heart. They will grab you when you want to look the other way.”
Notre Dame University Irish Studies Journal Breac Review: “A call to bear witness, brazen”
A great review from Brian F. McCabe:
“A dark and entirely moving work, Little Witness emerges from a history Ireland might prefer to forget, one of Magdalen laundries, poorhouses, and in which the buried children, like those of Tuam, continue to cry out for an advocate. Roberts fills this role, as she writes in one poem, with blazing truth.”
RTE Radio One Poetry Programme: Connie Roberts, Catriona O’Reilly & Peter Duffy
Rick O’Shea interviews me for the Poetry Programme. Great chat about Seamus Heaney, Mary Raftery and Peter Tyrrell.
Irish Times Review of Little Witness
John McAuliffe reviews Little Witness and Medbh McGuckian’s Blaris Moor.
Connie Roberts Poet 
April 22, 2016 at 6:05 am
Congratulations so well deserved. I hope you have a brillant time. ☆☆☆ Florrie. 🙂
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April 22, 2016 at 7:01 am
Thanks, Florrie!
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January 21, 2018 at 10:11 am
I cried unashamedly, in a disciplined rage, as I read this first person/third person interview/article of Connie Roberts in the Tullamore Tribune of 10/6/16. I haven’t had such a visceral reaction since the emotionally devastating book entitled Paddy’s Lament, first published in 1982, about the Irish Famine & the “Coffin Ships” that desperately sought refuge in the USA..
For Heaven’s sake, why doesn’t Connie Roberts partner with a narrative author & co-write a Non-fiction or Creative Non-Fiction Magnum Opus book or Novel & make her Little Witness a BIG WITNESS? Her tragic story can almost write itself & with universal appeal, in my opinion. She owes it to those who still suffer in silent agony & are unable to speak or write. Her so witnessing would give them hope.
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January 21, 2018 at 3:42 pm
Thank you for your heartfelt response to the Tullamore Tribune piece, Eddie. I appreciate your feedback. And your honesty. Over the past few years–especially given the positive response to Little Witness–I have been wrestling with whether or not to take my story to a larger audience (alas, poetry is a niche market). There’s always been an impulse to help fellow trauma survivors…
A New Year’s resolution I made a few weeks ago: As I walk through 2018, to constantly and consciously ask myself “How can I be of service to others?” Your comment is just the prodding I need, methinks.
Don’t you love how the universe speaks to us in a myriad beautiful ways.
Thank you again. And stay tuned.
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