New writer 2025: Petra Johana Poncarová

Petra Johana Poncarová is a Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Glasgow and carries out a project dedicated to radical Gaelic magazines from the early twentieth century. Previously, she worked as a lecturer at Charles University in Prague, as an editor for a baroque orchestra, and as a freelance translator of fiction from English into Czech. Her first research monograph, 'Derick Thomson and the Gaelic Revival', came out from the Edinburgh University Press in 2024.

She started to learn Gaelic first on her own in Prague and later completed a one-year course at Sabhal Már Ostaig in Skye. Her translations, made directly from Gaelic into Czech, include the novel Deireadh an Fhoghair by Tormod Caimbeul and poetry by Peter Mackay, Niall O’Gallagher, and Derick Thomson. She is involved in running the Gaelic strand of the Glasgow Review of Books. To enjoy, at least initially, the luxury of anonymity and impartial feedback in a numerically small literary community, she started to publish her Gaelic poems as 'Johana Egermayer', borrowing a family surname. The poems have appeared in New Writing Scotland and Aimsir.

Writing sample

DEALBHAN BHON TAISBEANADH

Lìonmhorachd solais

agus anns an t-solas seo, dealbhan

bho bhruadar – air neo bhon taisbeanadh,

a’ tighinn gu h-obann gu uachdar na cuimhne,

gun iarraidh, gun sireadh. 

Boireannach ann an gàrradh fàs,

luibhean air an dàthadh le grian dhian,

làrach pàlais ri taobh na mara.

An tè mu dheireadh air fhàgail, 

agus dà fhitheach-dubh.

Ciaradh corcarach na h-oidhche, 

is samhla ann an aodach geal

a’ seasamh ann an doire 

fo sgàil na beinne, is corran na làimh:

sealladh bho thìr nach eil buileach ann.

Duilleagan snàigeir mar bhoinneagan-fala,

clach-ghainmhich ann an solas buidhe

a tha cho blàth ri maitheanas ri thighinn,

air latha foghair, agus Iùdhas crùbte

ann an cleòc ciontach dubh. 

Prìomh-sholasan a’ chàr air feasgar ceòthach,

agus a chlisge, air an rathad,

dà ghobhar-dhuine, fear is balach beag,

spiorsag bho shaoghal coimheach eile,

a tha, gu luath, a’ crìonadh ’s a’ caitheamh.

Teine nan lanntairean air an loch,

an long shìtheach a’ sleamhnachadh tron oidhche,

le nathair shlatach mar cheann-caol,

fear adharcach le sùilean claon ag iomramh,

raoitearachd sgìth is an linn air crìoch.

Ach am fairge gu h-àraid, am beò-ghlacadh le sàl.

Boillsgidhean solais tro chop is tuinn,

eàrr-ite na h-òighe-mhara air an uachdar,

cha mhòr ’s gum faic thu i air astar,

ach tha am priobadh seo a-mhàin

làn gheallaidhean is an-fhois a leanas.

Càit’ an d’fhuair am peantair seo a thogadh

ann an dùthaich a tha gu tur tìr-dhruidte,

sannt na mara gun chasg, is nach annasach 

gun do dh’fhàs e cho eòlach air a’ chuan:

chualas sluisreachd shàmhach bho na frèaman.

Tha fios gun iarr am muir a bhith ga thadhail,

agus thug esan ùmhlachd dha,

thill e, uair is uair, agus mu dheireadh thall,

thrèig e, leig e dha, 

is mairidh an tadhal seo gu sìor-sìorraidh. 

Leum e le cliathaich na soithich air an t-slighe dhachaigh.

Cha b’ e ùthachd-fhèin a bh’ ann, ge-tà:

cha b’ e, cha b’ e,

ach caochladh-mara a bha fada dhìth,

’s air an robh e feumach fad a bheatha. 

Mar chuimhneachan air Beneš Knüpfer (1848–1910)

The poem was published in Aimsir(this link will open in a new window), (Lùnastal 2024), ed. Ursula O’Sullivan-Dale & Aisling Ní Choibheanaigh Nic Eoin.

Petra says:

'For somebody who came to Gaelic as an outsider, this is a great encouragement. I'm grateful for the opportunity and hope to use it well – to pay off something of the grateful debt to the world of Gaelic literature, which inspired me to learn the language and has since led me to places where I never expected to find myself.'