Irish language professor and writer Elaine Ni Bhraonain was born in Dublin. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D, and was raised in a household with her father speaking Irish to her. After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University College Dublin and Queens University Belfast, Ni Bhraonain, moved to New York in 2003 and taught Irish at the Irish Arts Center.

She then began work at CUNY’s Institute for Irish American Studies, and that was the beginning of her success story. Her topic of study for her doctorate is “The Irish Community in New York City.”

“I really became aware of my Irishness when I left Ireland and became homesick,” she said. “I now understand how lucky I was to grow up in Ireland, but love living as part of the Irish in New York and look forward to spending many more years traveling between the U.S. and Ireland.”

 

 

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