Book description
Since the publication of his first book in 1967, Paul Durcan has made
satirical, celebratory and extraordinarily moving poetry out of his
country's fortunes and misfortunes. His readings are legendary and
each new collection, from his collaboration with Brain Lynch,
Endsville (1967) to Daddy, Daddy (winner of the 1990
Whitbread Poetry Award), Crazy about Women (1991) and
Greetings to Our Friends in Brazil (1999) has borne out the
truth of Ezra Pound's dictum that "literature is news that stays
news".
This book contains Durcan's own selection from his work. It is a
literary milestone that has set the seal on his reputation as a poet
of international standing.
Paul Durcan is one of Ireland's foremost poets. He was born in Dublin
in 1944. His first book,
Endsville
(1967), has been followed by more than twenty others, including
The
Berlin Wall Café
(a Poetry Book Society Choice in 1985),
Daddy, Daddy
(winner of the Whitbread Award for Poetry in 1990),
Cries of an
Irish Caveman: New Poems
(2001),
The Art of Life
(2004) and
The Laughter of Mothers
(2008). In 2009 he published a selection of his work from the previous
forty years in one volume,
Life is a Dream
. In 2001 Paul Durcan received a Cholmondeley Award. He was the Ireland
Professor of Poetry 2004-2007. In 2009 he was conferred with an honorary
degree by Trinity College, Dublin. He is a member of Aosdána.
