Conleth O'Connor (1947–1993) was an Irish
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
.
Early life
O'Connor was born in 1947. His family were from
Dún Laoghaire, but he grew up in
Camolin, County Wexford
Camolin () is a village in County Wexford in Ireland, situated in the valley of the River Bann on the R772 regional road northeast of Ferns
A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plant ...
.
Career
O'Connor published four collections of poetry and was elected to
Aosdána, an elite association of Irish artists, serving as Toscaire (co-leader) in 1990. He worked at the Irish Writers Centre and Irish Writers Union. He contributed to ''
The Great Book of Ireland'' and died in 1993.
He most admired
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...
,
Paul Celan
Paul Celan (; ; 23 November 1920 – c. 20 April 1970) was a Romanian-born German-language poet and translator. He was born as Paul Antschel to a Jewish family in Cernăuți (German: Czernowitz), in the then Kingdom of Romania (now Chernivtsi, U ...
and
Miroslav Holub
Miroslav Holub (; 13 September 1923 – 14 July 1998) was a Czech poet and immunologist.
Holub's work was heavily influenced by his experiences as an Immunologist, writing many poems using his scientific knowledge to poetic effect. His work ...
.
Anthony Cronin
Anthony Gerard Richard Cronin (28 December 1923 – 27 December 2016) was an Irish poetry, Irish poet, arts activist, biographer, commentator, critic, editor and barrister.
Early life and family
Cronin was born in Enniscorthy, County Wexford on ...
described O'Connor as "one of Ireland's most distinctive and experimental poets until his premature death in 1993, dissecting the realities of modern Irish life."
wrote a poem in his honour in a 1997 issue of ''Books Ireland'', "Death's Gift."
Bibliography
Poetry
*''Trinities'' (1976)
*''The Judas Cry'' (1979)
*''Behind the Garden Gnomes'' (1982)
*''A Corpse Auditions Its Mourners: New and Selected Poems'' (1987)
*''Nights without Stars, Days Without Sun: Selected Poems'' (1997; posthumous)
Plays
*''The Re-Incarnation of Mr. Dogsbody''
*''Two Letters and Overtime''
Personal life
O'Connor was married to Frances, a
ceramicist; they had one child, Breffni.
He was a close friend of the writer
Dermot Bolger
Dermot Bolger (born 1959) is an Irish novelist, playwright, poet and editor from Dublin, Ireland. Born in the Finglas suburb of Dublin in 1959, his older sister is the writer June Considine. Bolger's novels include ''Night Shift'' (1982), ''Th ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:OConnor, Conleth
1947 births
1993 deaths
Irish male poets
Aosdána members
20th-century Irish poets
Writers from County Wexford