Sydney Bernard Smith (4 August 1936 – 11 October 2008) was a Scots-Irish poet, dramatist, actor and novelist.

Biography

He was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, his father was from Forfar,

Angus Angus may refer to: Media * ''Angus'' (film), a 1995 film * ''Angus Og'' (comics), in the ''Daily Record'' Places Australia * Angus, New South Wales Canada * Angus, Ontario, a community in Essa, Ontario * East Angus, Quebec Scotland * An ...

and his mother from Co.

Clare Clare may refer to: Places Antarctica * Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land Australia * Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley * Clare Valley, South Australia Canada * Clare (electoral district), an electoral district * Cl ...

. He was brought up in Portstewart,

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. B ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. He was educated at

Clongowes Wood College Clongowes Wood College SJ is a voluntary boarding school for boys near Clane, County Kildare, Ireland, founded by the Jesuits in 1814, which features prominently in James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Yo ...

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...

and the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, 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 org ...

International Writer's programme. He later taught at Clongowes Wood College. He also worked as a teacher at

Sandymount High School Sandymount High School was a coeducational secondary school on Herbert Road, Sandymount, Dublin 4 which operated for over 50 years before closing in 1999. History Sandymount High School was founded in 1947 and was initially controversial becau ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, the University of Iowa and

Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and go ...

in Ithaca, New York. He also taught in Germany and Spain. Smith was married to Cynthia (née Hoxie) and they had three sons (Daniel, Sydney George, Cormac) and a daughter (Emer). At the time of his death he lived in

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

County Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the ...

in Ireland.

Awards

* 1982 elected a member of Aosdana

Publications

Poetry

* Girl With Violin (The Dolmen Press oetry Ireland Editions 3 Dublin 1968) * Priorities (Raven Arts Press, Dublin 1979) * Sensualities (Raven, 1981) * Scurrilities (Raven 1981) * New and Selected Poems (Raven, 1984).

Plays

* Sherca (1976, published Newark, Del, Proscenium Press, 1979) * Don Bosco, Grainne and the Dole (1977) * The Impertinence of being Frank (1978) * The Illaunapsppie Triangle (1978) * Houseparty (1979) * Swim Away Babies (1984) * On Course for Brazil (1985) * How to Roast a Strasbourg Goose ( Dublin Theatre Festival, 1985) * Up for Bloomsday (1985) * The 2nd Grand Confabulation of Drum Ceat (Dublin Theatre Festival,Andrews Lane Theatre, 1989) * Reason not the Need (1992) * The Shaming of the True (1995).

Novels

* Flannery (Dublin, Odell & Adair, 1991) * The Book of Shannow (published in literary magazines)

Other

His work was broadcast on

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

and

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

, and staged in Ireland; at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

; and in the United States.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Sydney Bernard 1936 births Irish poets 2008 deaths People from Portstewart People educated at Clongowes Wood College 20th-century poets Male actors from County Londonderry