Aodán Mac Póilin was born in Belfast and lives in the Shaw’s Road Irish-speaking community. He graduated from the New University of Ulster with a degree and M.Phil in Irish Studies. He is an ex-teacher and has been Director of ULTACH Trust since 1990.

He has been active in the European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages and the Community Relations Council, was chairman of the first Irish-medium school in Northern Ireland, and was on the boards of Foras na Gaeilge, Colmcille and the Broadcasting Council for Northern Ireland. He is currently on the boards of Cultures of Ireland, Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta (the council for Irish-medium education), and the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queens University Belfast.

He has written and lectured extensively on various aspects of the Irish language, literature and culture. He has edited Styles of Belonging: the cultural identities of Ulster (1992), Ruined Pages, New Selected Poems of Padraic Fiacc (1994), The Irish Language in Northern Ireland (1997), and was a member of the editorial panel of The Great Book of Gaelic (2002).