Roma Ryan
Northern Irish writer, poet, Enya lyricist (b. 1954)
title: "Roma Ryan" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["constructed-language-creators", "irish-women-songwriters", "musicians-from-belfast", "living-people", "irish-women-poets", "21st-century-writers-from-northern-ireland", "21st-century-women-writers-from-northern-ireland", "people-from-artane,-dublin", "1950-births", "enya"] description: "Northern Irish writer, poet, Enya lyricist (b. 1954)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roma_Ryan" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Northern Irish writer, poet, Enya lyricist (b. 1954) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Roma Ryan |
| background | solo_writer |
| birth_name | Roma Shane Forbes |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| genre | New-age, Celtic, world |
| spouse | Nicky Ryan (d. 2025) |
| occupation | lyricist, poet, writer |
| years_active | 1982–present |
| label | WEA, Warner Music UK, Warner Bros. Records UK, Reprise, Geffen |
| associated_acts | Enya |
| website | |
| :: |
| name = Roma Ryan
| image =
| caption =
| background = solo_writer
| birth_name = Roma Shane Forbes
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Belfast, Northern Ireland
| genre = New-age, Celtic, world
| spouse = Nicky Ryan (d. 2025)
| occupation = lyricist, poet, writer
| years_active = 1982–present
| label = WEA, Warner Music UK, Warner Bros. Records UK, Reprise, Geffen
| associated_acts = Enya
| website =
Roma Shane Ryan (born 20 January 1950) is an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist who lives in Killiney, Ireland. She is the primary lyricist for the singer Enya, who has stated that the importance of her and her late husband Nicky Ryan's contributions is such that without them, Enya would not exist.
|url=http://theoscarsite.com/whoswho9/ryan_ro.htm
|archive-url=https://archive.today/20041021153618/http://theoscarsite.com/whoswho9/ryan_ro.htm
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=2004-10-21
|title=Roma Ryan biography
|access-date=2008-02-19
|work=The Oscar Site
Early life
Roma Shane Ryan (née Forbes) was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and grew up in the area of Castlereagh. She has a brother who is a photographer, and her sister is the author and actress Michèle Forbes. Their late mother, who died of cancer when the siblings were young, was a hairdresser, and their father was a fireman. Both had met at a musical theatre group in Dublin, where they were both amateur singers.
Biography and work with Enya
Roma and Nicky Ryan met Enya in 1978; Nicky Ryan was managing Enya's family's band Clannad. Enya had just finished secondary school when Nicky Ryan rang her, asking if she would become a member of the group. The Ryans and Enya left Clannad several years later to focus on their own musical careers. Enya originally wrote instrumental melodies. Ryan found these melodies "very visual" and suited to film work, and began to write lyrics to them. |url=http://enyabookofdays.com/articles/amaran_16.htm |title=Enya, the Invisible Star |access-date=2010-10-01 |work=Enya Book of Days
Her lyrics can be heard in films such as The Frog Prince (1984), Green Card (1990), L.A. Story (1991), Toys (1992), Cry, the Beloved Country (1995), and Calmi Cuori Appassionati (2001), all of which feature Enya's music. Ryan's lyrics for Enya have won Grammy Awards; the song "May It Be" for The Lord of the Rings film The Fellowship of the Ring was nominated for an Oscar.
Loxian language
In 2005, Ryan revealed her creation of a new language, known as Loxian, in Enya's album Amarantine. It was inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's Elvish language. This language can be heard on three tracks from "Amarantine": "Less Than a Pearl", "The River Sings" and "Water Shows the Hidden Heart". Enya has mentioned in interviews that Ryan developed Loxian while writing lyrics for the track "Water Shows the Hidden Heart"; she and Enya had attempted to write lyrics for the track in Latin, Gaelic and English, but in the end found that they didn't really work for the song. |url=http://enyabookofdays.com/articles/amaran_13.htm |title=Enya Expands Lyrical Language |access-date=2010-10-01 |work=Enya Book of Days
Loxian language was used again in Enya's eighth studio album, Dark Sky Island, released on 20 November 2015, on the songs "The Forge of Angels" and "The Loxian Gate." These songs focus on the otherworldly and futuristic tales Ryan uses Loxian for, along with the non-Loxian Astra et Luna.
Solo work
Ryan has undertaken several projects in addition to her contributions to Enya, including a book describing the Loxian language called Water Shows the Hidden Heart. The book also contains poetry and stories written by Ryan. "Water Shows the Hidden Heart" was released in two editions: the first edition as a standalone item, shortly after the release of Amarantine in 2005. |url = http://discography.enya.com/index_02.html |title = Official Discography |access-date = 2010-10-01 |work = Discography.enya.com |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071103190712/http://discography.enya.com/index_02.html |archive-date = 3 November 2007 |df = dmy |url=http://www.beindependent.com/rel/v2_viewupc.php?storenr=286&upc=09362494742&showUsed=1 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130117204017/http://www.beindependent.com/rel/v2_viewupc.php?storenr=286&upc=09362494742&showUsed=1 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-01-17 |title=Amarantine release information |access-date=2010-10-01 |work=Be Independent
On 1 September 2017 Ryan published two books of poetry, Islands No 2&3: Dark Sky Islands and Little Histories and The Messenger's Origin. The first book focuses on the poetry Ryan wrote for the Enya album, Dark Sky Island. The other book is part of The Loxian Games. As of 21 August 2017, several winners of the Loxian Games had received their books and posted photos of the autographed copies on Unity - Enya's official forum. Enya, Ryan, and her husband all autographed the books presented to the winners. The books were published by Valley-dwellers Publishing.
The Loxian Games and the ''Unity'' forum
Ryan has been the coordinator of two on-line competitions at Enya's official website, enya.com—the First and Second Loxian Games, which have both been completed. Ryan announced the games on the official website in August 2008; the first games began on 1 September 2008 and the second games in September of the following year. Ryan stated: "The Games are a series of treasure hunts and you can tell by the name that they're based on the Loxian language you heard on Amarantine. They are games of riddles and clues and of you, looking for answers. As with most treasure hunts – there are prizes to be won. As with most treasure hunts you do not know what prize you may have won!" |url=http://www.clannad.org.uk/2008/08/new-loxian-site-and-competitions/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120322220215/http://www.clannad.org.uk/2008/08/new-loxian-site-and-competitions/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=2012-03-22 |title=New Loxian Site and Competitions |access-date=2010-10-02 |work=Northern Skyline
Personal life
Roma was married to Dublin-born producer Nicky Ryan, with whom she had two daughters, Ebony and Persia, who contributed artwork and layout to Amarantine. She remains close to Enya, having worked on her lyrics, and resided together at their previous home in Artane for the first six years of Enya's solo career in the 1980s.
Nicky Ryan died in September 2025. Roma's sister Michèle read out an assortment of her poems at Nicky Ryan's funeral in dedication to him.
Discography
- 1985 – The Frog Prince – The Original Soundtrack Recording — Enya and other artists – (title track only)
- 1987 – Enya — Enya
- 1988 – Watermark — Enya
- 1991 – Shepherd Moons — Enya
- 1995 – The Memory of Trees — Enya
- 1997 – Paint the Sky with Stars — Enya
- 1997 – A Box of Dreams — Enya
- 2000 – A Day Without Rain — Enya
- 2001 – Calmi Cuori Appassionati – Themes from Calmi Cuori Appassionati – (soundtrack) — Enya
- 2001 – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack — Howard Shore – (two tracks only: "Aníron" and "May It Be")
- 2002 – Only Time: The Collection — Enya
- 2005 – Amarantine — Enya
- 2006 – Sounds of the Season: The Enya Collection — Enya
- 2008 – And Winter Came... — Enya
- 2009 – The Very Best of Enya — Enya
- 2015 – Dark Sky Island — Enya
References
References
- "Books".
- "Enya Official Biography". press.wbr.com.
- "VKontakte {{!}} VK".
- (21 November 2006). "Amarantine (Special Christmas Edition)". Warner Bros. Records.
- [https://www.hotpress.com/music/nicky-ryan-producer-of-enya-has-died-23108162 Nicky Ryan, producer of Enya, has died]
- niall. "A Tribute To Nicky Ryan, 1946-2025".
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::