About: Patricia Forde

Patricia Forde (born c. 1960) was former Director of the Galway Arts Festival and an Irish children's author. Forde was raised in Market Street, Galway, a fluent Irish speaker. She became a member of An Taibhdhearc at age ten, both acting and directing its plays over the following ten years. She spent ten years as a primary school teacher, and was one of the early members of Macnas. Macnas co-founder, Pádraic Breathnach, encouraged her work on stories for Macnas's street performances. While working with Macnas she took a year's leave from teaching to write her first book, Tír faoi Thoinn. However, an opportunity to become Director of the Galway Arts Festival (proposed by in 1990) meant that she never returned to teaching.