Pádraig Ó Tuama is an Irish poet, theologian and conflict mediator.

Early life and education

Ó Tuama was brought up in a Catholic family in

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...

, Ireland. His first language is English. He also speaks Irish. Ó Tuama received his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

Divinity Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine< ...

from the

Maryvale Institute Maryvale Institute is a college of further and higher education, an International Catholic Distance-Learning College for Catechesis, Theology, Philosophy and Religious Education in Old Oscott, Great Barr, Birmingham, England. It specialises in t ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, England and his

Master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

Theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

from Queen's University Belfast.

Career

Ó Tuama has written three collections of poetry and a book of spiritual reflection. His poetry has been featured in

Harvard Review ''Harvard Review'' is a biannual literary journal published by Houghton Library at Harvard University. History In 1986 Stratis Haviaras, curator of the Woodberry Poetry Room at Harvard University, founded a quarterly periodical called ''Erato''. ...

, RTÉ’s ''Poem of the Week'',

Poetry Ireland Poetry Ireland ( ga, Éigse Éireann) is an organisation for poets and poetry, in both Irish and English, in the island of Ireland. It is a private nonprofit organisation that receives support from The Arts Council of Ireland and The Arts Council of ...

New England Review The ''New England Review'' is an American quarterly literary magazine published by Middlebury College. It was established in 1978 by Sydney Lea and Jay Parini. From 1982 till 1990, the magazine was named ''New England Review & Bread Loaf Quart ...

The Kenyon Review ''The Kenyon Review'' is a literary magazine based in Gambier, Ohio, US, home of Kenyon College. ''The Review'' was founded in 1939 by John Crowe Ransom, critic and professor of English at Kenyon College, who served as its editor until 1959. ' ...

and the

Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreach ...

' ''Poem-A-Day.'' He has held numerous poetry residencies, most recently with The Church of the Heavenly Rest in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, and the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution at Columbia University. He was profiled in the New Yorker in December 2022. Ó Tuama is a staff poet with the On Being Project, and hosts ''Poetry Unbound,'' a podcast produced by On Being Studios. ''Poetry Unbound'' had been downloaded more than 10 million times by the end of 2022. Ó Tuama's book ''Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open your World'', an anthology based on the podcast of the same name, was published by Canongate and W.W. Norton in 2022. The Poetry of War and Peace

Ó Tuama has featured on

Thought for the Day ''Thought for the Day'' is a daily scripted slot on the ''Today'' programme on BBC Radio 4 offering "reflections from a faith perspective on issues and people in the news", broadcast at around 7:45 each Monday to Saturday morning. Nowadays lastin ...

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scotland, Scottish radio station, radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same na ...

and

BBC Radio Ulster BBC Radio Ulster ( ga, BBC Raidió Uladh) is a Northern Irish radio station owned and operated by BBC Northern Ireland, a division of the BBC. It was established on New Year's Day 1975, replacing what had been an opt-out of BBC Radio 4. It is ...

. He has presented

Something Understood ''Something Understood'' is a weekly radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4 since 1995 which deals with topics of religion, spirituality, and the larger questions of human life, and took a particular spiritual theme, exploring it through speech, ...

on BBC Radio 4, and An Saol Ó Dheas on RTÉ. In 2021, he hosted the first season of The Corrymeela Podcast, and an episode of On Being with Krista Tippett. His interviewees have included

Hanif Abdurraqib Hanif Abdurraqib (born August 25, 1983) is an American poet, essayist, and cultural critic. He is the author of 2016 poetry collection ''The Crown Ain't Worth Much'' (published as Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib), the 2017 essay collection ''They Can't ...

The Edge David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), better known as the Edge or simply Edge,McCormick (2006), pp. 21, 23–24 is an English-born Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing voca ...

Mary McAleese Mary Patricia McAleese ( ; ga, Máire Pádraigín Mhic Ghiolla Íosa; ; born 27 June 1951) is an Irish activist lawyer and former politician who served as the eighth president of Ireland from November 1997 to November 2011. She is an academic ...

, Martin Hayes,

Billy Collins William James Collins (born March 22, 1941) is an American poet, appointed as Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003. He is a Distinguished Professor at Lehman College of the City University of New York (retired, 2016). Collins ...

and

Joy Harjo Joy Harjo ( ; born May 9, 1951) is an American poet, musician, playwright, and author. She served as the 23rd United States Poet Laureate, the first Native American to hold that honor. She was also only the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetr ...

. In 2011, along with Paul Doran, Ó Tuama co-founded Tenx9, a storytelling initiative based in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

. Tenx9 events have since been held in Nashville and

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. From 2014 to 2019, Ó Tuama was the leader of the

Corrymeela Community The Corrymeela Community was founded in 1965 by Ray Davey, along with John Morrow and Alex Watson, as an organisation seeking to aid individuals and communities which suffered through the violence and polarisation of the Northern Irish confl ...

, Ireland's oldest peace and reconciliation organisation. He has also collaborated with and worked for a number of other mediation organisations, including

Co-operation Ireland Co-operation Ireland is a non-political and non-denominational charity dedicated to peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Much of Co-operation Ireland's work focuses on bringing the two main communities in North ...

, Mediation Northern Ireland, and Place for Hope. He is a frequent speaker at

Greenbelt Festival Greenbelt Festival is a festival of arts, faith and justice held annually in England since 1974. Greenbelt has grown out of an evangelical Christian music festival with an audience of 1,500 young people into its current form, a more inclusive f ...

Personal life

Ó Tuama is gay, and has been a vocal supporter of the legalisation of

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

. He has been outspoken against the practice of ‘reparative’ or ‘

conversion therapy Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. In contrast to evidence-based medicine and cl ...

’.

Published works

* ''Feed the Beast'' (Broken Sleep Books, 2022) ISBN 978-1-915079-52-7 * ''Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your World'' (Canongate and W. W. Norton, 2022) *''In the Shelter: Finding a Home in the World'' (North America edition, with foreword by Krista Tippett, Broadleaf Books, 2021) *''Borders and Belonging. The Book of Ruth: A Story for Our Times'' (Co-authored with Glenn Jordan, Canterbury Press, 2021) *15 sonnets in ''When Did We See You Naked'' (Reaves and Tombs ds SCM Press, 2021) *Four poems in ''Mapping Faith: Theologies of Migration and Community'' (Lia Shimada d Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2020) *'The Place Between' in ''Neither Here nor There: The Many Voices of Liminality'' (Timothy Carson d The Lutterworth Press, 2019) *''Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community'' (Canterbury Press, 2017) * ''In the Shelter: Finding a Home in the World'' (Hodder & Stoughton, 2015) * ''Sorry for Your Troubles'' (Canterbury Press, 2013) * ''Readings from the Books of Exile'' (Canterbury Press, 2012)

References

External links

*Ó Tuama'
official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:OTuama, Padraig Irish poets 21st-century Irish poets Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Poetry anthologies Podcasting Columbia University Irish theologians