Macha Press was recently founded by seven poets, each with manifold areas of practice. All the founders are currently based on the island of Ireland but each has a visionary reach that is integral to the international and trans-generational character of Macha. The name resounds with the eponymous (and pregnant) goddess who runs through the Ulster Cycle; Scottish makar (poet); as well as the Irish and Scottish Gaelic for a geographic “plain”. Macha is differently read across other cultures and languages and plays with tropes of both fertility and power. 

Our ethos is both grounded and soaring. Attuned to marginal poetries, including work that is experimental, formally hybrid and / or interdisciplinary, we aim to dazzle our readers with innovative practices from wild reaches of our poetic ecosystem and also to represent work that is intercultural and / or in translation. We also aim to keep gaze on endangered poetries of fore-writers which require our recovery.

At Macha, we work as a collective endeavour and actively challenge dichotomous and binary modes of thinking. We plan to publish two publications per year: one historical or apex of career, and one emerging poet from within a wide range of concern and practice. We also plan to promote the appreciation, performance and recognition of the endeavour of both emerging and recovered poets to the local community and beyond.