Louis de Paor

Life
1961- ; b. Cork; moved to Australia, 1987; contrib. early poetry to Innti; issued Próca Solais is Luatha (1988), with Coisceim; published bilingual collection, Aimsir Bhreicneach/Freckled Weather (1993), shortlisted for Victorian Premier’s Award for Literary Translation; holder of Writer's Fellowship by the Australia Council, 1995; issued 30 Dán (1992), winner of Seán Ó Ríordáin Oireachtas Poetry Award; issued Gobán Cré is Cloch/Sentences of Earth and Shore (1996); returned to Ireland, settling in Galway; issued Seo, Siúd agus Eile (1997); received 4th annual Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Award for Poetry (St Thomas in St Paul, Minnesota), March 2000;

issued Agus Rud Eile De (2003); app. Director of Irish Studies, NUI Galway; received the O’Shaughnessy Poetry Award of Univ. of St Thomas, Minnesota, 2000 ($5,000); issued Agus Rud Eile, De (2003), winner of Oireachtas prize; issued Ag Greadadh Bas sa Reilig / Clapping in the Cemetery (2005), a bilingual collection of his poems, 1988-99, with translation by Biddy Jenkinson, Mary O’Donoghue, and Kevin Anderson; he is Director of the Centre of Irish Studies at NUI Galway; issued a documentary on Sean Ó Riordáin (TG4, 2013); drives a Mercedes.

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Works
Poetry collections
  • Próca Solais is Luatha: Dánta 1980-1987 (Dublin: Coiscéim 1989), 43pp.
  • Coiscéim na hAoise Seo: Seán Ó Tuama agus Louis de Paor a roghnaigh (Dublin: Coiscéim 1991) 153pp.
  • Faoin mBlaoisc Bheag Sin: an Aigneolaíocht i Scéalta Mháirtín Uí Chadhain (BAC: Coiscéim 1992), 388pp.
  • 30 Dán (Dublin: Coiscéim 1992).
  • Aimsir Bhreicneach / Freckled Weather (Leros Press 1993),
  • Gobán Cré is Cloch / Sentences of Earth and Shore (Melbourne: Black Pepper Press 1996; rep. 1997).
  • Seo, Siúd agus Uile (Dublin: Coscéim 1997).
  • Agus Rud Eile De (Dublin: Coiscéim 2003), 56pp., Do. [bilingual edn. as Agus rud eile de / And Another Thing (Cló Iar-Chonnacht 2010), 104pp.
  • Ag Greadadh Bas sa Reilig / Clapping in the Cemetery (Cló Iar-Chonnachta 2005), 232pp. [bilingual selected collection, with trans. by Biddy Jenkinson, Mary O'Donoghue & Kevin Anderson].
  • Agus Rud Eile De / And Another Thing (Indréabhain: Cló Iar-Chonnact 2010), 104pp., ill. [bilingual selected collection, with trans. by Biddy Jenkinson, Mary O'Donoghue & Kevin Anderson; ill. by Kathleen Furey; musical settings by Ronan Browne].
Miscellaneous
  • Ed., Leabhar Sheáin Uí Thuama (Coiscéim 1998) [25 poets in Irish, Scots Gaelic and English.]
  • Corcach agus Dánta Eile (Dublin: Coiscéim 1999).

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Criticism
Simon Caterson, ‘Cultural Activist’ [interview], in Irish Studies Review, 6 (Spring 1994), pp.13-15. Frank Sewell, ‘Between Two Languages: Poetry in Irish, English and Irish English’, in Matthew Campbell, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Contemporary Irish Poetry (Cambridge UP 2003), pp.149-68.

See also review in Irish Literary Supplement ([q. iss.] 1995), p.35, which cites de Paor’s challenge to the ‘prevailing Irish postcolonial orthodoxy’ from his adopted Australia (Innti, Vol. 14); also Irish Times notice (22 July 1997).

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