Christy Brown was born in Crumlin, Dublin, in 1932. One of thirteen surviving children, he suffered from cerebral palsy and was considered mentally disabled until he famously snatched a piece of chalk from his sister with his left foot. His autobiography, My Left Foot (London, Secker & Warburg, 1954/New York, Simon & Schuster, 1955), was […]
Stephen Brown was born in Derry in 1972. His novels are Under the Devil Tree (Derry, Stephen Brown, 2004); The Green Book (Bucks., UK, White Leaf Press, 2009); His poetry is collected as The Ant and the Centaur (White Leaf Press, 2009). He lives near Oxford. Whiteleaf Press
Colette Bryce was born in Derry in 1970. Her collections are The Heel of Bernadette (London, Picador, 2000); The Full Indian Rope Trick (Picador, 2004), which was short-listed for the TS Eliot Award; The Observations of Aleksandr Svetlov (London, Donut Press, 2007); and Self-Portrait in the Dark (Picador Poetry, 2008), which was short-listed for the […]
Sam Burnside was born in Co Antrim. His long poem, Cathedral (Freehold Press, 1989), won The Sunday Tribune/Hennessey Award of that year. This was followed by Walking The Marshes (Cliffs of Moher, Salmon Poetry, 1990); Horses (Ballagh Studios, 1993), a handmade book with woodcuts by the Canadian artist Tim Stampton; and Fahan Mura (Belfast, Lapwing […]
Paddy Bushe was born in Dublin in 1948. His poetry collections include Poems With Amergin (Dublin, Beaver Row Press, 1989); Teanga (Baile Átha Cliath, Coiscéim, 1990); Counsellor (Kerry, Sceilg Press, 1991); Digging Towards The Light (Dublin, Dedalus Press, 1994); In Ainneoin na gCloch (Coiscéim, 2001); Hopkins on Skellig Michael (Dublin, Dedalus Press, 2001); The Nitpicking […]
Mairéad Byrne was born in Dublin in 1957. Her poetry collections include Talk Poetry (Miami University Press 2007), SOS Poetry (/ubu Editions 2007), and Nelson & The Huruburu Bird (Bray, Wild Honey Press 2003); also five chapbooks, An Educated Heart (Palm Press 2005), Vivas (Wild Honey Press 2005), Kalends (Belladonna* 2005), China Dogs (Poetic Inhalation […]
Patricia Byrne was born in Mayo. Her narrative nonfiction is The Veiled Woman of Achill (Cork, The Collins Press, 2012). Her debut collection of poetry is Unstable Time (Belfast, Lapwing Press, 2009). She is also a writer of short stories, which have been anthologised. She lives in Limerick. Patricia Byrne’s website Patricia Byrne at The […]
Catherine Byron was born in London of an English father and Irish mother in 1947 but grew up in Belfast from 1948. The Fat-Hen Field Hospital: Poems 1985-92 (Bristol, Loxwood Stoneleigh, 1993); Settlements & Samhain (Loxwood Stoneleigh, 1993); The Three Shes, edited and translated into German by Hans Bernhard Schiff, (Dusseldorf 1994, parallel text); and […]
Louise C. Callaghan was born in 1948 and brought up in County Dublin. Her collections are The Puzzle-Heart (Cliffs of Moher, Salmon, 1999); Remember The Birds (Salmon Poetry, 2005); and In The Ninth House (Salmon Poetry, 2010). She compiled and edited Forgotten Light: An Anthology of Memory Poems (A & A Farmar, 2003). Her poetry is […]
Siobhán Campbell was born in Dublin. Her collections are The Permanent Wave (Belfast, The Blackstaff Press, 1996); The Cold That Burns (The Blackstaff Press, 2000). and Cross-Talk (Cardiff, Seren, 2009). She has also published two chapbooks, That Water Speaks in Tongues (Derbyshire, Templar, 2008); and Darwin Among the Machines (Powys, Rack Press, 2009). A She […]
Eileen Casey was born in the Midlands. Her debut poetry collection is Drinking the Colour Blue (Dublin, New Island Books, 2008). From Bone to Blossom (Dublin, Altents Publishing, 2011), a collaborative work with visual artist Emma Barone and featuring an introduction by Grace Wells, received support from Offaly County Council and South Dublin County Council. […]
Paul Casey was born in Cork, Ireland in 1968. His debut collection is home more or less (Cliffs of Moher, Salmon Poetry, 2012). His chapbook of longer poems is It’s Not all Bad (Coventry, Heaventree Press, 2009) In October 2010 his poetry-film The Lammas Hireling, after the poem by Ian Duhig, premièred at the Zebra […]
Philip Casey was born to Irish parents in London in 1950 and grew up in Co Wexford. His verse collections are Those Distant Summers (Dublin, Raven Arts Press, 1980); After Thunder (Raven Arts Press, 1985); The Year of the Knife Poems 1980-1990, (Raven Arts Press Dublin, 1991); Dialogue in Fading Light/New and Selected Poems (Dublin, […]
Thomas Carnduff was born in Belfast in 1886. He worked at a variety of jobs, at the Belfast shipyards and elsewhere, and also served as a sapper in the Royal Engineers during the First World War. He later served in the Ulster Special Constabulary. His poetry is collected as Songs from the Shipyard and other […]
Ciaran Carson was born in Belfast in 1948. His poetry collections include The New Estate (Belfast, Blackstaff Press, 1976) which won the Eric Gregory Award; The Irish for No (Oldcastle, Co Meath, The Gallery Press, 1987, and subsequently Wake Forest Press, USA/Bloodaxe Books, UK), which won the Alice Hunt Bartlett Award; Belfast Confetti (Gallery Books, […]
Seamus Cashman was born in Conna, Co Cork in 1943. His poetry collections are Carnival (Dublin, Monarchline, 1987); Clowns & Acrobats (Monarchline, Dublin, October, 1997); and That Morning Will Come, New & Selected Poems (Cliffs of Moher, Salmon Poetry, 2007). He has edited, with Bridie Quinn, The Wolfhound Book of Irish Poems for Young People, […]
Patrick Chapman was born in Co Roscommon in 1968. His poetry collections are Jazztown (Dublin, Raven Arts Press, 1991); The New Pornography (Galway, Salmon, 1996); Breaking Hearts And Traffic Lights (The Cliffs of Moher, Salmon, 2007); and The Darwin Vampires (Salmon Poetry, 2010). His stories are collected as The Wow Signal, (Portishead, Bluechrome, 2007), and […]
Glenda Cimino was born in Atlanta, and moved to Ireland in the early seventies. She has been editor of Beaver Row Press, publishing poets such as Paula Meehan, Brendan Kennelly and Eithne Strong from a handpress. Her collection of poems, Cicada, was published by Beaver Row in 1988. She lives in Dublin. Glenda Cimino at […]
Austin Clarke was born in Dublin in 1896. His collections include Collected Poems (London, George Allen & Unwin, 1936); Later Poems (Dublin, The Dolmen Press, 1961); Flight to Africa and Other Poems (The Dolmen Press, 1963); Mnemosyne Lay in Dust (The Dolmen Press, 1966); Old Fashioned Pilgrimage and Other Poems (The Dolmen Press, 1967); The […]
Sean Clarkin was born in New Ross, Co Wexford, in 1941. His full collection to date is Without Frenzy (Oldcastle, Co Meath, The Gallery Press, 1974). He was the inaugural winner of The Patrick Kavanagh Award in 1971. He lives in Co Wexford. Sean Clarkin at The National Library of Ireland
Brian Cleeve was born in Essex of a Limerick family in 1921, and settled in Dublin in the mid-1950s. His short fiction includes The Horse Thieves of Ballsaggert (Cork, Mercier Press 1966). His novels include Far Hills (London, Jarrolds, 1953); Portrait of My City (Jarrolds, 1953); Birth of a Dark Soul (Jarrolds, 1953, published in […]
Harry Clifton was born in Dublin in 1952. His poetry collections are The Walls of Carthage (Dublin, The Gallery Press, 1977); Office of the Salt Merchant (The Gallery Press, 1979); Comparative Lives (Oldcastle, Co Meath, The Gallery Press, 1982); The Liberal Cage(The Gallery Press, 1988), Night Train through the Brenner (The Gallery Press, 1996), The […]
Michael Coady was born in Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary, in 1939. His poetry collections are Two for a Woman, Three for a Man (Loughcrew, Co Meath, Gallery Books, 1980); Oven Lane (Gallery, 1987), All Souls (Gallery, 1998), an illustrated compendium of poetry and prose; One Another (The Gallery Press, 2003); and Going By Water (The Gallery […]
Brian Coffey was born in Dublin in 1905, and lived abroad for much of his life, in France, The United States and England, during which time he taught philosophy and mathematics. His first book, Poems, shared with Dennis Devlin, was published in 1930, and was described by Samuel Beckett as constituting ‘the nucleus of a […]
Mary Coll’s collection is All Things Considered (The Cliffs of Moher, Co Clare, Salmon Poetry, 2002). She works as a writer, critic and broadcaster and lives in Limerick. Mary Coll at The National Library of Ireland
Mael Coll Rua was born in Cork in 1962. He has published two chapbooks, Outburst (Dublin, Chantin’ Tongue Press, ndg); and Street Corners (Chantin’ Tongue Press, 1990), but he is best known as a performance poet, working from a collection called North Light Razor Blade Company. He lives in Dublin. Mael Coll Rua at The […]
Susan Connolly was born in Drogheda, Co. Louth in 1956. Her principal collections are For the Stranger (Dublin, Dedalus Press,1993); and Forest Music (Exeter, UK, Shearsman, 2009). With Anne-Marie Moroney, she published Stone and Tree Sheltering Water: An Exploration of Sacred and Secular Wells in Co. Louth (Drogheda, Flax Mill, 1998). Other short collections include […]
Patrick Cotter was born in Cork in 1963. His collections are The Mysogynist’s Blue Nightmare (Raven Arts Press, 1990); A Socialist’s Dozen (Cork, Three Spires Press, 1990); and The True Story of Aoife and Lir’s Children & other poems (Three Spires Press, 2002); Perplexed Skin (Dublin, Arlen House, 2008); and Making Music (Three Spires Press, […]
Roz Cowman was born in Cork in 1942. Her collection is The Goose Herd (Salmon Poetry, The Cliffs of Moher, Co Clare, 1989). Her non-fiction includes Our Daily Bread: A History of Barron’s Bakery, with photographs by Arna Run Runarsdottir (Cork, Onstream Publications, 2011). She received the Arlen House/Maxwell House award in 1982, and the […]
Anthony Cronin was born in Co Wexford in 1928. His many works include the novels The Life of Riley (London, Secker & Warburg, 1964); and Identity Papers (Dublin, Co-Op Books, 1980). His collections of poems are Poems (London, Cresset, 1958); Collected Poems, 1950-73 (Dublin, New Writers Press, 1973); Reductionist Poem (Dublin, Raven Arts Press, 1980); […]
Tim Cunningham was born in Limerick in 1942. His collections are Don Marcellino’s Daughter (Cornwall, UK, Peterloo Poets, 2001; Unequal Thirds (Peterloo Poets, 2006); and Kyrie (Limerick, Revival Press, 2008). He lives in Billericay, Essex, UK. Tim Cunningham’s website Tim Cunningham at Peterloo Poets Tim Cunningham at The National Library of Ireland
Tony Curtis was born in Dublin in 1955. His collections are The Shifting of Stones (Dublin, Beaver Row Press,1986); Behind the Green Curtain (Beaver Row Press, 1988); This Far North (Dublin,The Dedalus Press, 1994); Three Songs of Home (The Dedalus Press, 1998); What Darkness Covers (Todmorton, Lancs. UK, Arc Publications, 2003); and The Well in […]
Pádraig J. Daly was born in Dungarvan, Co Waterford, in 1943. His poetry collections are Nowhere but in Praise (Dublin, Profile Press, 1978), Poems: Selected and New (Dublin, The Dedalus Press, 1988); The Voice of the Hare (The Dedalus Press, 1997); The Last Dreamers (The Dedalus Press, 1999); The Other Sea (The Dedalus Press, 2003); […]
Gerald Dawe was born in Belfast in 1952. His poetry collections are Sheltering Places (1978); The Lundys Letter (Loughcrew, The Gallery Press, 1987), for which he was awarded the Macauley Fellowship in Literature; Sunday School (The Gallery Press, 1991); Heart of Hearts (The Gallery Press, 1995); The Morning Train (The Gallery Press, 1999) Lake Geneva […]
Cecil Day-Lewis was born in Ballintubbert, County Laois, in 1904. After his mother died in 1906, his father brought him to London, and was raised by his father and an aunt. Summers were spent with relatives in Co Wexford. In Oxford he met Auden and became part of his circle, helping Auden to edit Oxford […]
John F. Deane was born on Achill Island in 1943. His poetry collections are Stalking After Time (Dublin, Profile Press, 1977); High Sacrifice (Dublin, Dedalus Press, 1981); Winter in Meath (Dedalus Press, 1984); Road with Cypress and Star (Dedalus Press, 1988); The Stylized City, Selected and New Poems (Dedalus Press, 1991); Walking on Water (Dedalus […]
Seamus Deane was born in Derry in 1940. His poetry collections include Gradual Wars (Shannon, Irish University Press, 1972); Rumours (Dublin, The Dolmen Press, 1977); History Lessons (Dublin, The Gallery Press, 1983); and Selected Poems (The Gallery Press, 1988). His non-fiction includes Celtic Revivals: Essays in Modern Irish Literature 1880-1980 (London, Faber & Faber, 1985); […]
Patrick Deeley was born in Galway in 1953. His collections are Intimate Strangers (Dublin, The Dedalus Press, 1986); Names for Love (The Dedalus Press, 1990); Turane, The Hidden Village (The Dedalus Press, 1995); Decoding Samara (The Dedalus Press, 2000); The Bones of Creation (The Dedalus Press, 2008); and Groundswell: New and Selected Poems (The Dedalus […]
Greg Delanty was born in Cork in 1958. His collections are Cast in the Fire (Mountrath, The Dolmen Press, 1986); Southward (Dublin, Dedalus, 1992); American Wake (Belfast, The Blackstaff Press/Chester Springs, PA, Dufour, 1995); The Hellbox (Oxford, The Oxford University Press, 1998); The Blind Stitch (Manchester, Carcanet Press, 2001); The Ship of Birth (Carcanet Press, […]
Denis Devlin was born on April 15, 1908, in Greenock, Scotland, of Irish parents. He entered the Irish diplomatic service in 1935 and served in Europe and the United States, before being appointed minister plenipotentiary to Italy in 1950; he was accredited also to Turkey 1951, and was ambassador to Italy 1958. Admired by Beckett, […]
Neil Donnelly was born in Tullamore, Co. Offaly, in 1946. His plays for theatre include The Station Master (Edinburgh, 1974); Upstarts (Dublin, The Abbey Theatre, The Peacock stage, 1980); Silver Dollar Boys (Dublin,The Peacock, 1981); Flying Home (The Peacock, 1983); Chalk Farm Blues (The Peacock, 1984); Boys of Summer (Dublin, The Gaeity Theatre, 1985); Blindfold […]
Moyra Donaldson was born in Co down in 1956. Her collections are Kissing Ghosts (Belfast, Lapwing Publications, 1995); Snakeskin Stilettos (Belfast, Lagan Press 1998/New Jersey, CavanKerry Press, 2002); Beneath the Ice (Belfast, Lagan Press 2001); The Horse’s Nest (Lagan Press, 2006); and Miracle Fruit (Lagan Press, 2010). Winner of the Allingham Award and the National […]
Charles (Charlie) Donnelly was born in Tyrone on the 10 July, 1914. His posthumous collections are Charlie Donnelly, The Life and Poems, ed., Joseph Donnelly (Dublin, Dedalus Press, 1987); and The Tolerance of Crows and Other Poems (Cork, Three Spires Press, 1994). ‘Even the olives are bleeding‘ is said to have been a remark by […]
Gerard Donovan born in Wexford and grew up in Galway. His collections are Columbus Rides Again (The Cliffs of Moher, Co Clare, Salmon, 1992); Kings and Bicycles (Salmon, 1995); and The LightHouse (Salmon, 2000), which was short listed for the Irish Times Literature Prize. His novels are Schopenhauer’s Telescope (New York, Perseus Publishing/London, Scribner, 2003), […]
Katie Donovan was born in 1962, and spent her early childhood in County Wexford. Her poetry collections are Watermelon Man (Newcastle Upon Tyne, Bloodaxe Books, 1993); Entering the Mare (Bloodaxe Books, 1997); Day of the Dead (Tarset, UK, Bloodaxe Books, 2002); Rootling: New and Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books, 2010). She is the author of a […]
John Doorty was born in 1959 in Co. Clare. He is the author of the poetry collection Into the Heart of It: Daley Dialogues and Other Poems (Rathbane Publishing/Cló an Rátha Bháin, 1997); and a guide book A Place Called Doolin; (Rathbane Publishing/Cló an Rátha Bháin, 2002). John founded and edited the Irish literary journal […]
Mary Dorcey was born in Dublin. Her poetry includes Kindling (London, Onlywomen Press, 1989); Moving into the Space Cleared by Our Mothers (Galway; Salmon, 1991); The River That Carries Me (Salmon Poetry, 1995); and Like Joy in Season, Like Sorrow (Cliffs of Moher, Salmon Poetry, 2001); and Perhaps the Heart is Constant after All (Salmon […]
Theo Dorgan was born in Cork in 1953. His poetry collections are The Ordinary House of Love (Galway, Salmon Poetry, 1991); Rosa Mundi(Salmon Poetry, 1995); Sappho’s Daughter (Dublin, wave Train Press 1998); and Greek (Dublin, The Dedalus Press, 2010). The Ordinary House of Love and Rosa Mundi are also published as one volume, What This […]
Katherine Duffy was born in Dundalk in 1962. She writes poetry and fiction in both English and Irish. Her poetry collections are The Erratic Behaviour of Tides (Dublin, Dedalus, 1999); and Sorrow’s Egg (Dedalus, Her award-winning novel for young adults is Splanctha (Gallimh, Clól Iar-Chonnachta, 1998). After spending many years as a librarian, she now […]
Paul Durcan was born in Dublin in 1944. In 1974 he won the Patrick Kavanagh Award and more recently the Irish American Cultural Institute Poetry Award (1989), The Whitebread Prize (for Daddy, Daddy, 1990) and the London Poetry Book Society choice for The Berlin Wall Café. His books include Endsville [with Brian Lynch] (Dublin, New […]
Ann Egan was born in 1948 in Co Laois. Her collections are Landing the Sea (Cork, Bradshaw Books, 2003); and The Wren Women (Ballyclare, Co Antrim, The Black Mountain Press, 2003), which was dramatised and staged at Listowel Writers Week 2003; and Telling Time (Bradshaw Books, 2012). Her novel is Brigit of Kildare (Kildare Library […]
Desmond Egan was born in Athlone, Co Westmeath in 1936. He founded the Goldsmith Press in 1972 and edited Era, the literary magazine. His collections include Midland (Newbridge, The Goldsmith Press, 1972, with drawings by Brian Bourke); Leaves (Goldsmith Pres,1974), with drawings by Charles Cullen); Siege! (Goldsmith Press, 1976); Woodcutter (Goldsmith Press, 1978); Athlone? (Goldsmith […]
Conleth Ellis was born in Carlow in 1937. He was Chairman of Poetry Ireland for three years, and co-edited Poetry Ireland Review 13. His poetry collections are This Ripening Time (1966); Under the Stone (Dublin, Gill and MacMillan 1971); Fómhar na nGéanna (1975); Aimsir Fháistineach (Baile Átha Cliath, Coiscéim, 1981); Nead Lán Sneachta (Coiscéim, 1982); […]
John Ennis was born in Westmeath in 1944. His collections include Night on Hibernia (Dublin [now Oldcastle, Co Meath] The Gallery Press, 1976); Dolmen Hill (The Gallery Press, 1977); A Drink of Spring (The Gallery Press, 1979); The Burren Days (The Gallery Press, 1985); Arboretum (Dublin, The Dedalus Press, 1990); In a Greener Shade (The […]
Martina Evans was born in 1961 and grew up in County Cork. Her poetry is collected as The Inniscarra Bar Cycle Rest (Rockingham Press); Can Dentists Be Trusted? (London, Anvil, 2005); and Facing the Public (Anvil, 2009). Her novels are Midnight Feast (London, Sinclair-Stevenson, 1996); The Glass Mountain (Sinclair-Stevenson, 1997); and No Drinking, No Dancing, […]
Kevin Faller was born in Galway in 1920. His poetry collections include Island Lyrics (Dublin, Colm O’Lochlainn, 1963); Lament for Bull Island and Other Poems (Dublin, The Goldsmith Press, 1973); The Lilac Tree and Other Poems (Dublin, St Beuno’s Press, 1979); Memoirs: Collected Poems (Mornington, Co Meath, Tracks, 1984). He published one novel, Genesis (London, […]
Padraic Fallon was born in Athenry, Co Galway in 1905. His first poems were published in Dublin by George Russell His only collection during his lifetime, Collected Poems (Dublin, The Dolmen Press, 1974) was published a few months before his death. His other collections are Poems & Versions (ed Brian Fallon, Dublin, Raven Arts Press/ […]
Peter Fallon was born in Germany in 1951 and since 1957 has lived in Ireland. He founded The Gallery Press in 1970, and has edited and published more than 300 books of poems and plays by Irish writers. His own poetry collections include The Speaking Stones (with drawings by Timothy Engelland, Dublin, The Gallery Press, […]
Gerard Fanning was born in Dublin in 1952. His collections are Easter Snow (Dublin, The Dedalus Press,1992); Working for the Government (Dedalus, 1999); Water and Power (Dedalus, 2005); and Hombre: New and Selected Poems (Dedalus Press, 2011) He lives in Dublin. Gerard Fanning at The Dedalus Press Gerard Fanning at The National Library of Ireland
Born Patrick Joseph O’Connor in Belfast in 1924, Padraic Fiacc adopted his pseudonym at the urging of Padraic Colum. His family emigrated to New York, but he returned to Belfast in 1946. His collections include Woe to the Boy (1957); By the Black Stream (Dublin, The Dolmen Press, 1969); Odour of Blood (Kildare, The Goldsmith […]
