Putting Irish women writers back in the picture

To mark International Women's Day on Sunday, March 8th, The Irish Times has invited a cross-section of more than 40 Irish writers, critics and academics to nominate their favourite Irish woman writer and explain why in 180 words or less. Over the next two weeks, starting today, we will publish these online. We are also inviting our readers to nominate their own favourites in the comments section below.

The series will culminate on Saturday, March 7th with a double-page spread in Weekend Review, with on one side a poster of 12 of the finest Irish women writers, a deliberate pastiche of the various familiar Irish Writers posters, which do not have even a token woman among their 12 featured writers (echoing the famous Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing affair in 1990, which was so bereft of female writers that an extra volume had to be commissioned to atone). On the facing page, we will have a dozen pieces nominating one of the 12 writers and explaining why.