VISITING IRISH WRITERS, HOWTH, JANUARY 2007

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Paula Meehan is scheduled to be with us on 14 January.  She was born in 1955 in Dublin and still lives there.  Her collections of poems include The Man Who Was Marked for Winter (Gallery Press, 1991), Pillow Talk (Gallery, 1994), and Dharmakaya (Carcanet, 2002).  Carcenet published her along with Eavan Boland and Mary O’Malley in a book called Three Irish Poets in 2003.  She has also written plays (for both adults and children) and has worked with inner city communities and prisoners.  Her work has been recognized with the Marten Toonder Pirze and the Butler Award for Poetry, and she is a member of Asdona (the Irish equivalent of an NEA fellowship, except it goes on for five years and is renewable—I translate that as being declared “a national treasure.”)

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Theo Dorgan will come on 15 January.  Born in Cork in 1953, Theo now lives in Dublin.  His most recent publication is the nonfiction Sailing for Home: A Voyage from Antigone to Kinsale (Penguin 2005).  He has also published books of poetry, including The Ordinary House of Love (Salmon, 1991) and Rosa Mundi (Salmon, 1995).  He has served as director of Poetry Ireland / Éigse Éireann and has been a broadcaster on RTE radio and television.  He has edited or co-edited several important books on Irish writing, including Watching the River Flow: A Century of Irish Poetry and Irish Poetry Since Kavanagh. Dorgan is a member of Asdona and is on the board of the Irish Arts Council.

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Dermot Bolger will come on the 18th.  He was born in Finglas, North Dublin, and still makes his home in Dublin.  His numerous novels include The Family on Paradise Pier (Penguin, 2006), The Valpariso Voyage (Flamingo, 2001), Temptation (Flamingo, 2000), The Journey Home (Viking 1990), and Night Shift (Brandon, 1982).  He founded Raven Arts Press and was editor there from 1979-92.  Bolger has also written several plays, filmscripts, and books of poetry (including Taking my Letters Back: New and Selected Poems, New Island, 1996, and The Chosen Moment, New Island, 2004).  He won the Samuel Beckett Award in 1990, the AE Memorial Award in 1996, the Stuart Parker BBC Award in 1990.  He is also a member of Asodana.