Waking Maeve: A literary excavation of Sligo's landscape, myth and history

A legend is stirring.

Stories of Queen Maeve have lingered across Connacht and the Atlantic coast since her death two thousand years ago. A Sligo surfer has heard whispers on the tide that this ancient Irish warrior is waking from her slumber. From the mysterious passage tombs of Knocknarea and Carrowmore to the enormous swells that break at Mullaghmore, Waking Maeve carries readers on a rolling wave from Stone Age to the era of rock ’n’ roll, tracking the myths, landscapes and people that shaped Ireland’s northwest.

Along the way, you’ll meet kings and queens, saints and Vikings, poets and rebels, shipwrecks, surfers and dreamers who left their mark on one of Ireland’s most extraordinary landscapes.

Guided by the enduring spirit of the Neolithic people of the northwest, Queen Maeve and the poet WB Yeats, Seamus Mc Goldrick reveals the deep connections between past and present, inviting readers to discover why Sligo continues to captivate, inspire and surprise.

“An evocative journey through myth, memory and marine identity , Waking Maeve reconnects us with the ancient relationship between people, place and sea. Seamus Mc Goldrick brings Ireland’s northwest vividly to life through story, landscape and the enduring power of the feminine. Here, Queen Maeve emerges as both wave-rider and warrior of the sea, stirring as if from an ancient slumber beneath the Atlantic tide.”
Easkey Britton, author of Saltwater in the Blood