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Paul Durcan

"One of modern Ireland's most distinctive poets, Paul Durcan is renowned as both an outspoken critic of his native country, and as a chronicler of its emergence from the repressions of the 1950s to the contradictions of the present day"

- Dr Eve Patten

Paul Durcan was born in Dublin in 1944 and educated at University College, Cork where he studied archaeology and medieval history. His first book Endsville (with Brian Lynch) appeared in 1967 and in 1974 he won the Patrick Kavanagh Award. This has been followed by 19 other collections, including O Westport in the Light of Asia Minor in 1975, The Berlin Wall Café, (Poetry Book Society Choice, 1985), Daddy, Daddy (Winner of the Whitbread Poetry Award, 1990). He was awarded the Irish American Cultural Institute Poetry Award in 1989 and was joint recipient of the 1995 Heinemann Award.

His recent collections include The Art of Life (2004), The Laughter of Mothers (2008) and Life is a Dream: Forty Years Reading Poems (2009). Paul was Ireland Professor of Poetry 2004-2007 during which time he delivered a keynote address on Michael Hartnett, his "first friend in poetry". In 2009, Paul returned to Newcastle West to deliver the Michael Hartnett Memorial Lecture on the theme "Michael Hartnett's Way of the Cross" which can be heard on Remembering Michael Hartnett.

Paul Durcan is no stranger to Newcastle West, having come to know its streets and rivers as a child visiting relatives. Later, he visited as Michael Hartnett's friend and, on several occasions, to give his distinctive readings. Paul Durcan will unveil the sculpture commemorating Michael Hartnett in the Square, Newcastle West on Saturday, April 16 at 2pm. All are welcome to attend.

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