Laoighseach Ní Choistealbha was born in Ireland in 1994 and raised in the Laggan in East Donegal, close to the border with the North of Ireland. She now lives in the Connemara Gaeltacht in County Galway, Ireland. She was Arts Council Writer in Residence at Dublin City University (DCU) for 2026. She has published two poetry collections in Irish, both with Barzaz, Solas Geimhridh agus Dánta Eile (2023) and Mainistir na Feola (2025). The first dual language Irish-English edition of her poetry, St Lucy and the Eye Doctor / San Luíseach agus Lia na Súl, translated by Ellen Corbett, drawing on her first and second Irish collections plus later work, is published by Bloodaxe Books in 2027.

Ellen Corbett is a translator and Irish-language scholar from Cookstown, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland - just over the border from County Donegal. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in German and Léann an Aistriúcháin (Irish Translation Studies), and a Master's in Translation Studies. In 2024 she won the Stephen Spender Prize for her translation of Laoighseach Ní Choistealbha's poem 'Scrúdú' ('Exam').

(Laoighseach Ní Choistealbha is pronounced Lee-Shuk-Nee-Kosh-tel-ah.)