Latest updates and patron exclusives from Orna Ross's blog

Welcome to my latest poems, news, and novel extracts, updated weekly. This is paid content for my fiction, poetry and all-access patrons only.
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New Poem for Patrons: The Holding of the Sídhe

A new poem for my poetry patrons. Enjoy "The Holding of the Sídhe"--, a poem about the powerful Irish goddess, Áine, inspired by WB Yeats's “The Hosting of the Sídhe” (1890). Same form and rhyming structure, very different poem!

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New Fiction for Patrons: Maud Gonne Witnesses Her First Eviction

Enjoy this extract from my next novel, A Life Before, publishing later this year, in which Maud Gonne has her political awakening when she witness an Irish eviction and comes to some personally uncomfortable conclusions

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New Poem for Patrons: I Am Ireland: Mise Éire

A new poem for my poetry patrons. Enjoy "Mise Éire" (pronounced "misheh aireh"), a poem in English and Irish, inspired by two earlier poems by Eavan Boland and Padraig Pearse of the same title.

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Maud Gonne’s Upbringing: Open Post

August 11, 2023June 23, 2023 by Orna Ross

A fictionalised summary of Maud Gonne’s upbringing, based on extracts from, A Life Before, the first book in the Gonne-Yeats series by Orna Ross

New Fiction for Patrons: Professional Beauty

Enjoy this extract from my next novel, A Life Before, publishing later this year, in which Maud Gonne learns the arts of professional beauty from her great-aunt Mary and is in danger of a proposition from the Prince of Wales, much to her sister Kathleen's distress

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Open Poetry Post. #IndiePoetryPlease Contest #14.

July 31, 2023June 14, 2023 by Orna Ross

Win ebooks and exposure! This week’s #PoetryContest is inspired by Aisling (pronounced “ashling”), a famous Irish language form—a patriotic, dream-vision, political poem developed in response to English colonialism in Ireland.

New Poem for Patrons: Brightness of Brightness, Gile ne Gile

A new poem for my poetry patrons. Enjoy "Brightness of Brightness"--a poem in English and Irish about the universal effect of living from fear and turning from light, inspired by Paidraig Pearse's interpretation of the famous aisling poem, Gile ne Gile

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New Fiction for Patrons: W.B. Yeats Summons the Spirits

Enjoy this extract from my next novel, A Life Before, publishing later this year, in which WB Yeats tries to harness supernatural powers to win love by attending a séance... with disastrous consequences.

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The Hermit’s Song. Amhrán an Ancaire. A New Poem in English and Irish

Enjoy The Hermit's Song: A poem in both English and Irish. Poetry patrons enjoy an exclusive new poem by Orna Ross every Sunday... and more. Sign up to support indie poetry and receive exclusives, discounts and a monthly news update.

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Fiction Extract: The Artist’s Way

This is extract is from A Life Before, a prequel to Her Secret Rose, which I published some years ago--and which has now morphed into a series of seven books, the first of which will publish in October 2023. Fiction patrons enjoy an exclusive new extract each Friday... plus exclusives, discounts and a monthly update.

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#IndiePoetryPlease Contest Winner: Ashe Kaye

May 24, 2023May 24, 2023 by Orna Ross

Please join me in congratulating this week’s #IndiePoetryPlease Contest Winner: Ashe Kaye (@afkayewrites), and their winning entry – When the House Creaks