Ciaran O'Driscoll (born 1943) is an Irish poet and novelist born in
Callan, County Kilkenny
Callan () is a town and civil parish in County Kilkenny in Ireland. Situated 16 km (10 mi) south of Kilkenny on the N76 road to Clonmel, it is near the border with County Tipperary. It is the second largest town in the county, and had a ...
and living in
Limerick
Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...
.
Biography
Ciaran O’Driscoll lives in Limerick. He worked as a lecturer for the
School of Art and Design at the
Limerick Institute of Technology
The Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT; ga, Institiúid Teicneolaíochta Luimnigh) was an institute of technology, located in Limerick, Ireland. The institute had five campuses that were located in Limerick, Thurles, Clonmel, as well as a r ...
before he retired. A member of
Aosdána
Aosdána ( , ; from , 'people of the arts') is an Irish association of artists. It was created in 1981 on the initiative of a group of writers with support from the country's Arts Council. Membership, which is by invitation from current member ...
, he has published nine books of poetry, including Gog and Magog (1987), Moving On, Still There (2001), and Surreal Man (2006). His fourth collection, The Old Women of Magione, was translated into Italian in 2006, and a Selected Poems in Slovene translation was published in 2013. A poetry collection, Angel Hour (2021), is his most recent publication. Liverpool University Press published his childhood memoir, A Runner Among Falling Leaves (2001). His novel, A Year's Midnight, was published by Pighog Press (2012).
Work
His work has featured in special Irish issues of European literary journals and anthologized on several occasions.
Eamon Grennan
Eamon JR Grennan (born 13th November 1941) is an Irish poet born in Dublin, Ireland. He attended University College Dublin where he completed a BA 1963 and an MA 1964. He has lived in the United States, except for brief periods, since 1964. He ...
, writing in
The Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
, called him "a poet in confident possession and exercise of his craft.
ispoems do what good poems should do, widening and deepening the world for the rest of us."
According to the critic Michael S. Begnal, reviewing O'Driscoll's ''The Speaking Trees'', "his poems often conjure dream-like or visionary states... His language is clear and deliberate but describes a bizarre or surreal subject matter."
[Michael S. Begnal. "Fusion Fission: Surrealism now". Poetry Ireland Trumpet #8, July 2019, p. 9]
O'Driscoll's poems have been translated into many languages, including French, German, Irish, Italian, Hungarian, Russian, Scots Gaelic, Serbo-Croat, Slovenian, and Spanish. His awards for poetry include a Bursary in Literature from the
Irish Arts Council
The Arts Council (sometimes called the Arts Council of Ireland; legally ga, An Chomhairle Ealaíon) is the independent "Irish government agency for developing the arts."
About
It was established in 1951 by the Government of Ireland, to encour ...
(1983), the James Joyce Literary Millennium Prize (1989), and the Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh Fellowship in Poetry (2000). His poem ‘Please Hold’ (featured in Forward's anthology Poems of the Decade) has become a set text for A-Level English Literature.
Bibliography
Collections of poetry
*''Angel Hour'', SurVision Books, Dublin, 2021
*''The Speaking Trees'', SurVision Books, Dublin, 2018
*''Life Monitor'' (Three Spires Press, Cork, 2009)
*''Surreal Man'', Pighog, Brighton, 2006
*''Moving On, Still There: New and Selected Poems'', Dedalus Press, Dublin, 2001
*''The Old Women of Magione'' (Dedalus Press, Dublin, 1998)
*''Listening to Different Drummers'' (Dedalus Press, Dublin, 1993)
*''The Myth of the South'' (Dedalus Press, Dublin, 1992)
*''The Poet and His Shadow'' (Dedalus Press, Dublin, 1990)
*''Gog and Magog'' (Salmon Publishing, Galway, 1987)
In translation
*''Nadzorovanje Ziivljenja'' (Selected poems with Slovenian translations). Kud France Preseren, Ljubljana, 2013.
*''Vecchie Donne di Magione'' (a collection of his poems with Italian translations by Rita Castigli). Volumnia Editrice, Perugia, 2006
Novel
*''A Year’s Midnight'' (Pighog Press, Brighton, 2012)
Memoir
*''A Runner Among Falling Leaves'', Liverpool University Press, 2001
Notes
External links
Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:ODriscoll, Ciaran
21st-century Irish poets
Surrealist poets
Irish male poets
Living people
1943 births
People from Callan, County Kilkenny
Writers from County Kildare
Writers from County Limerick