Kevin Kiely (born 2 June 1953) is a poet, critic, author and playwright whose writings and public statements have met with controversy and also with support.

Early life

Kiely was born on 2 June 1953 in Warrenpoint,

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

, Northern Ireland. His grandfather's brother was the

Olympian Olympian or Olympians may refer to: Religion * Twelve Olympians, the principal gods and goddesses in ancient Greek religion * Olympian spirits, spirits mentioned in books of ceremonial magic Fiction * ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'', fiction ...

John Jesus Flanagan, inventor of the hammer for Slazenger America as used in the Olympic Games, and three-times record-breaking gold medallist.John Flanagan: Obituary in ''New York Times'', June 5, 1938 Kiely's childhood was spent in many parts of Ireland, due to his father's work as manager with the Munster & Leinster Bank. Aged 7, he was sent to Wimbledon, London to his aunt. In 1963 on the death of his father, John Francis Kiely, he was in the care of his guardian and uncle, Edward Vaughan-Neil who sent him to Mt St. Joseph’s Abbey, Roscrea where he was a boarder from 1966 to 1969. He completed his education in Blackrock College, Dublin, from 1969 to 1971.

Wandering, work, academic life

He became a field study technician for Smedley HP in Cambridgeshire 1973–1975 and wandered in Europe working part-time at various jobs while reading in the national libraries of many countries, but otherwise mainly residing in Paris and London. Kiely attended University College Galway in 1976, participating on the Art Council-funded National Writers Workshop, taught Literature in Colegio Xaloc, Barcelona and was made an honorary fellow of

Iowa University The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 coll ...

in 1983. He holds a Masters in Literature from

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

in 2005 and a PhD from University College Dublin in 2009. His doctoral thesis on ''John L. Sweeney: Patron of Poetry'' at Harvard's Woodberry Poetry Room gained him an American Fulbright Award in 2007, enabling years of full-time lecturing at American universities including Boise State University and the University of Idaho, and research at Harvard. The doctoral thesis formed the basis o
Harvard’s Patron: Jack of All Poets
an A-Z critical study of modernist American poets associated with The Edward Woodberry Poetry Room Harvard University. Sweeney as Irish-American millionaire and patron, greatly contributed in terms of patronage to poets E. E. Cummings , Robert Frost, Ezra Pound, Wallace Stevens and many others which Kiely prefigured in various essays discussing poets and their patrons before the publication of ''Harvard's Patron: Jack of All Poets'' (2018).

Writings

Kiely co-edited ''The Belle'', a counter-cultural magazine, with

Maurice Scully Maurice Scully (1952 – 5 March 2023) was an Irish poet who worked in the modernist tradition. Scully was born in Dublin and educated at Trinity College. He was a member of Aosdana. Life After some years living in Italy, Africa and the wes ...

from 1978 to 1979. He moved from Dublin to Spain where he taught at Colegio Xaloc and gave public lectures on poetry and literature. ''Quintesse'', published in 1982 in Dublin by Co-Op Books, found a New York publisher in 1985. During this period he was invited to the University of Iowa on the International Writing Programme Fellowship working with the American poet

Paul Engel The Cult Awareness Network (CAN) was an anti-cult organization created by deprogrammer Ted Patrick that provided information on groups that it considered to be cults, as well as support and referrals to deprogrammers. It was founded in the wake ...

as well as poets

Gary Snyder Gary Snyder (born May 8, 1930) is an American poet, essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist. His early poetry has been associated with the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance and he has been described as the "poet laureate of ...

, Marvin Bell and

Jorie Graham Jorie Graham (; born May 9, 1950) is an American poet. The Poetry Foundation called Graham "one of the most celebrated poets of the American post-war generation." She replaced poet Seamus Heaney as Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory at ...

. ''Mere Mortals'', an experimental pastiche of the post-Joycean novel, was published in 1989 in Dublin. With publication of the biography of

Francis Stuart Henry Francis Montgomery Stuart (29 April 19022 February 2000) was an Irish writer. He was awarded one of the highest artistic accolades in Ireland, being elected a Saoi of Aosdána, before his death in 2000. His years in Nazi Germany led to a g ...

author of the Penguin Classi
Black List, Section H
one of twenty-five novels, Kiely found support and condemnation because of Stuart’s conflicted life including the Second World War era in Berlin broadcasting at

Haus des Rundfunks The Haus des Rundfunks ("Broadcasting House"), located in the Westend district of Berlin, the capital city of Germany, is the world's oldest self-contained broadcasting centre. Designed by Hans Poelzig in 1929 after he won an architectural compet ...

which had earned him the scandalous epithet the Irish Lord Haw-Haw. While the book was extensively reviewed, the long existing controversy over Stuart became amplified into further controversy. The book titled ''Francis Stuart: Artist and Outcast'' came out in Ireland and America, and Kiely's stance was seen by some as "diplomatic" whereas some others suggested that Kiely was "not writing the book that more opinionated readers, eager to prove Stuart's lapses, would have demanded." The re-issue of the revised edition of the Stuart biography in 2017 alongside Geoffrey Elliott's biography of John Lodwick brought to public attention the Stuart-Lodwick association of writers who took different sides in WWII and thereafter formed an ideological friendship. Kiely's poetry such as the collection ''Breakfast with Sylvia'', published in 2005 received the Kavanagh Fellowship in 2006, was highly praised in America and Ireland by leading poets, ‘Kiely has a reputation as strong in Europe and the US as it is here'. The portrait of Kevin Kiely by Maeve McCarthy RHA gained the Ireland-US Council Portrait Award in 2006. Besides book publication and work in many anthologies, his poetry has appeared in ''The Edinburgh Review'', ''Poetry Ireland Review'', ''Adrift'' (New York), ''Foolscap'' (London), ''Oasis'' (London), ''Acumen'' (UK), ''Other Poetry'' (UK), ''Cyphers'', ''The Literary Review'' (New Jersey), ''Chapman'' (Scotland), ''Southword'', ''Cork Literary Review'', ''The Black Mountain Review'', ''The Shop'', ''Fortnight'', ''Storm'' (Scotland), ''Touchstone'' (UK), ''Stony Thursday Book'', ''Idaho Arts Quarterly'', ''The Journal: Cumbria'' (UK), ''Decanto'' (UK), ''The Poetry Bus'', ''The Sunday Independent'', ''Revival Literary Journal, Red Poetry (Wales), Irish American Post, The Minetta Review (New York), Wild Violet Magazine, Pinched (London), Underground Press, (New York), SPRING: the journal of the ee cummings society, The Laughing Dog (US), ANU/A New Ulster 38, New Poetry International, Café Review (USA), Village: politics and culture, Pratik.'' Kiely's plays, ''Multiple Indiscretions'' (1997) and ''Children of No Importance'' (2000), have been produced by RTÉ as well as "In This Supreme Hour" at the Derry Playhouse in 2016. He is also a successful novelist for young readers. ''A Horse Called El Dorado'' won the CBI Bisto Award in 2006. ''SOS Lusitania'' (2013) is a novel about war, politics and conspiracy theory and was the One Book One Community Choice in the Centenary Year of the Lusitania for 2015 during ''The Remember the Lusitania Project''. His most recent adult fiction is ''The Welkinn Complex'', which exposes psychiatric practice and the pharmaceutical industry, while ''UCD Belfield Metaphysical: a retrospective'' is a collection of poems published in 2017. Kiely received Arts Council Literature Bursary Awards for his writings in 1980, 1989, 1990, 1998, 1999, 2004, A Bisto Award in 2005 and The Patrick Kavanagh Fellowship in Poetry 2006.

Criticism

Kiely had begun reviewing poetry and literature, first with John Mulcahy's ''Hibernia'', and later for various publications including ''The Examiner'' and ''Books Ireland''. He became New Writing Editor and later Literary Editor (2000–2005) on ''Books Ireland'' at the invitation of its founder, Jeremy Cecil Addis, in 1995. He writes extensive and controversial criticism in ''Hibernia'', ''Irish Examiner'', ''The Democrat Arts Page'', ''Irish Studies Review'', ''Honest Ulsterman'', Fortnight, ''Books Ireland'', ''The London Magazine'', ''The Irish Book Review'', ''Poetry Ireland Review'', ''Irish Times'', ''Irish Arts Review'', ''Irish Literary Review'', ''Idaho Arts Quarterly, Humanities'' (DC), ''Village Magazine: politics and culture'', ''The Journal of the E. E. Cummings Society'', ''The Wallace Stevens Journal'', ''The Robert Frost Review'' and ''MAKE IT NEW''. Kiely's poetry criticism is not just confined to homegrown Irish publishing which he has extensively commented on in many reviews and surveys. He questioned the pervasively state-funded poetry scene amidst the arts in general "amidst cliques and cabals", and made public the lack of accountability of many arts institutions. He launched vociferous and persistent criticism of institutions such as Aosdána, which he feels are anathema to the identity and autonomy of the serious artist. His statements about the Arts Council's Aosdána reflect the wider concern along with other artists such as Robert Ballagh in relation to public funding channels devoid of accountability. His literary criticism reached national news when he reviewed President Michael D. Higgins' ''Selected Poems'' in 2012 calling his poems "crimes against literature". Paul Durcan, quoted by The Irish Central, defended Michael D. Higgins, who, in his view, "has an absolute commitment to the spirit of poetry." Kiely responded through the Sunday Independent "In supporting the poetry of President Higgins, the Aosdana group prove that their own critical faculty and writing is of the same standard". Kiely's recent works in criticism, ''Harvard's Patron Jack of all Poets'', about the Woodberry Poetry Room, and critical exegesis ''Seamus Heaney and the Great Poetry Hoax'', prompted the American poet Carlo Parcelli to comment 'Kiely has unmasked a fraud that as he predicted years ago has burgeoned into an institutional conspiracy to honour the mediocre and the sham.' The publication of ''Arts Council Immortals'' albeit the unofficial biography of the Arts Council 1951-2020 was praised by independent underground arts practitioners, writers and poets but has also involved legal action behind the scenes and unease among establishment commentators including John Burns who found it 'makes Finnegans Wake look like a Ladybird book'

Epic poetry

In 2011, Kiely began cross-community workshops and talks in Northern Ireland, sporadically based in Derry with the ''Eden Place Arts Centre'' and with Pauline Ross’s ''Playhouse Theatre'' which resulted in various writers' groups anthologies. Ten years contact with Ireland’s conflicted peace process region, resulted in the two volumes of ''Yrland Regained: Central Cantos'' ‘structured’ within American modernist poetry techniques which evokes the Six Counties Sectarian War (1966-1998) and Ireland’s centuries struggle towards full independence and unity. In 2021 he was invited as editorial adviser/proofreader on Pamela Mary Brown’s ''Questions of Legacy'' and progressed to their co-writing poetry for the short film ''‘O City, City’'' a heritage commission by the Derry City and Strabane District Council.

Published works

* ''Pieta, The Anthology'' (short fiction) ed. Leland Bardwell Co-Op Books Dublin 1982 * ''Quintesse'', St Martin's Press, New York 1985. Gavin Witt, English Major, Yale University wrote a study of Quintesse, 1988 * ''Mere Mortals'', Poolbeg, Dublin 1989 (Short-List Hughes & Hughes Fiction Prize 1990) * ''Multiple Indiscretions'', RTÉ 1997 * ''Children of No Importance'', RTÉ 2000 * ''Plainchant for a Sundering'' (long-poem) Lapwing, Belfast 2001 * ''A Horse Called El Dorado'', O'Brien Press, Dublin 2005 (Bisto Honour Award, 2006) * ''Breakfast with Sylvia'', Lagan Press, Belfast 2005/US Edition 2007; Awarded the Patrick Kavanagh Fellowship in Poetry 2006 * ''Francis Stuart: Artist and Outcast'', Liffey Press, Dublin 2007, Areopagitica Publishing 2017 (Authorised Biography) * ''Something Sensational To Read in the Train'' (anthology foreword: Brendan Kennelly) Lemon Soap Press, Dublin 2005 * ''Catullus: One Man of Verona Anthology'', ed. Ronan Sheehan Farmar & Farmar Ltd 2010 * ''The Welkinn Complex Number One Son Publishing Co.'', Florida USA 2011; Areopagitica Publishing (Revised Edition) 2016 * ''Ends & Beginnings: Anthology'' eds. John Gery and William Pratt AMS Press Inc, New York 2011 Windows Anthology eds. Heather Brett and Noel Monahan 2012 * ''In Place of Love and Country'' eds. Richard Parker & John Gery Crater Press, London 2013 * ''SOS Lusitania'', O'Brien Press, Dublin 2013 * ''The Taking of Christ'' (co-authored with Pamela Mary Brown) 2013 * ''1916-2016 An Anthology of Reactions'' eds. John Liddy & Dominic Taylor The Limerick Writers' Centre, 2016 * ''UCD Belfield Metaphysical: a retrospective '', Lapwing Press, Belfast 2017 * ''The Office on Serious Street'', ''Writers Room Anthology'', Eden Place Arts Centre, Derry 2017 * ''Seamus Heaney and the Great Poetry Hoax '' Areopagitica, 2018 * ''Harvard’s Patron: Jack of All Poets '' Areopagitica, 2018 * ''UCD Belfield Metaphysical: New & Selected Poems'' Areopagitica, 2018 * ''Dracula and Luna'' (co-authored with Pamela Mary Brown) Areopagitica 2018 * ''Cromwell Milton Collins Carson'' from "Yrland Regained: Central Cantos" Cyberwit, Allahabad, India 2020 * ''Endgames: Good Friday Agreement & Missus Windsor's Hitmen Cantos'' Cyberwit, Allahabad, India 2020 * ''Arts Council Immortals'' Areopagitica 2020 * ''I shot the President's verse: Selected Journalism'' Areopagitica 2021 * ''Yrland Regained: Central Cantos'' I & II Areopagitica 2022 * ''Hotel Baudelaire: reservations and cancellations'' Areopagitica 2022 * ''The Candle of Vision A.E. (George William Russell) Introduction by Kevin Kiely'' Spa Cottage Publishing, 2022 * ''The Irish Percy French Introduction by Kevin Kiely'' Spa Cottage Publishing, 2022 * ''Secret Lives: Selected Poems and Prose of Susan Langstaff Mitchell Introduction by Kevin Kiely'' Spa Cottage Publishing, 2022 * ''The Selected Poems of Jane Elgee-Wilde Introduction by Kevin Kiely'' Spa Cottage Publishing, 2022 * ''Thomas Moore: Political Poems Introduction by Kevin Kiely'' Spa Cottage Publishing, 2024 * ''The Principles of Poetry DI + ID = Ψ Psi'' Spa Cottage Publishing, 2024

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiely, Kevin 1953 births Male dramatists and playwrights from Northern Ireland International Writing Program alumni Living people Male novelists from Northern Ireland Male poets from Northern Ireland People from Warrenpoint 20th-century novelists from Northern Ireland 21st-century novelists from Northern Ireland 20th-century British male writers 21st-century British male writers People educated at Blackrock College