Contributors: Winter 2011

Prairie Schooner, Vol. 85, No. 4 (Winter 2011)

Cover

‘‘Queenstown. County Cork, Ireland.’’ Photochrom Print. Cover image courtesy of Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, LCDIG-ppmsc-09859.

Play

Thomas Lynch is the author of five books of poetry, a book of short stories, and three collections of essays. This is his first published play. He lives in Michigan and Moveen, County Clare, Ireland.

Prose

Andrew Fox is from Dublin. His most recent stories appeared in the Dublin Review. He won third prize in this year’s RTE Francis McManus Competition and is a 2011 Arts Council bursary recipient. He lives in Massachusetts.

Kathleen Murray lives in Dublin. A number of her short stories have appeared in journals such as The Stinging Fly and in anthologies of Irish writing. She was the winner of the 2007 Fish International Short Story Prize and was shortlisted for the 2009 Davy Byrne Award. She received an Arts Council bursary in 2010. She is working on a first collection of short stories.

Nuala Ní Chonchúir is a Galway-based fiction writer and poet. She has three collections of poetry, the most recent being Portrait of the Artist with a Red Car (Templar). Her debut novel, You (New Island), was called ‘‘a heart-warmer’’ by the Irish Times and ‘‘a gem’’ by the Irish Examiner, and her third short-story collection, Nude, was shortlisted for the UK’s Edge Hill Prize.

Aiden O’Reilly spent seven years in Germany and Poland. He studied mathematics and did research into a QM system before concentrating on writing. He has worked variously as a mathematics lecturer, translator, IT teacher, and technical writer. In the six years since he returned from abroad, his work has appeared in 3:AM Magazine, The Stinging Fly, and The Dublin Review, among others.

William Wall is the author of three poetry collections, one short fiction collection, and four novels, the most recent of which, This Is the Country, was longlisted for the 2005 Man Booker Prize. His most recent poetry collection is Ghost Estate. He has won and been shortlisted for many prizes. He lives in Cork City, Ireland.

Poetry

Deanie Rowan Blank is the recipient of a W. B. Yeats Pierce Loughran Scholarship. Her poetry has appeared in Edgar Literary Magazine, Main Channel Voices, Potpourri, Expressions, and elsewhere, and has been performed by the East Haddam Stage Company. She was a Sunken Garden Poetry Festival Tenth Anniversary Prize finalist.

Colm Breathnach works as a translator in the Irish Parliament. He has published six collections of poetry, a selected edition, and a novel. His work has been awarded the Butler Prize by the Irish American Cultural Institute and has been translated into English, Scottish Gaelic, German, Italian, Slovenian, and Romanian. His poetry collection Dánta agus dánta eile (Poems and other poems) is forthcoming.

Lucy Brennan is from Ireland and lives in Canada. Her poetry has been published in Canada, Ireland, and the UK. She is author of the book of poetry Migrants All (watershedBooks), as well as a cd of stories and poems, The Tellings and Mad Sweeney, and a play, Daughter of the House.

Sandra Bunting is presently working as an editor for Gaelóg Press and is on the editorial board of Crannóg magazine. She previously worked at the National University of Ireland-Galway at the Academic Writing Centre and facilitated creative writing seminars there.

Philip Casey has published three novels and four collections of poems. He curates Irish Writers Online and Irish Culture Guide. He currently is writing nonfiction and lives in Dublin.

Patrick Chapman has published five books of poems, most recently The Darwin Vampires (Salmon), the title poem of which was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He wrote the short story collection The Wow Signal, (Bluechrome); Burning the Bed, an award-winning film; and an audio play, Doctor Who: Fear of the Daleks.

Michael Corrigan has been writing for many years but only recently began submitting work for publication. He works in adult disability and social justice services and lives with Trish and dogs, cats, and birds in County Kildare.

Colin Dardis is an Ireland-based poet, artist, and musician. He is editor of Speech Therapy, an online zine focusing on poetry from Ireland, and a facilitator for the Belfast Book Festival. His first poetry collection is left of soul (lulu.com).

Theodore Deppe is the author of Children of the Air and The Wanderer King (Alice James), Cape Clear: New and Selected Poems (Salmon), and Orpheus on the Red Line (Tupelo P). Born in Duluth, Minnesota, he holds dual citizenship in Ireland and the United States and has lived in Ireland since 2000. He has been writer-in-residence for the James Merrill House (Stonington, CT) and Phillips Academy (Andover, MA). He directs Stonecoast in Ireland for the Stonecoast mfa Program in Maine.

Theo Dorgan is a Dublin-based poet, prose writer, editor, translator, librettist, and documentary scriptwriter. He is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently Greek (Dedalus P), and several books of translation, prose, and edited works. He was the 2010 recipient of the O’Shaughnessy Award for Irish Poetry.

Liam Duffy grew up in Galway and is now compiling an artistic atlas of Galway and working toward his first collection of poetry. His work has appeared in the Irish Left Review, Wordlegs.com, and the anthology Emergency verse-poetry in defence of the welfare state. He read at Ireland’s West Cork Literary Festival 2010 on the panel ‘‘Irish Poets: A New Generation.’’

Ann Egan’s poetry collections are Landing the Sea (Bradshaw Books), The Wren Women (Black Mountain P), and Brigit of Kildare (Kildare Library and Arts Services). Her awards include The American Ireland Fund, Writers’ Week Listowel, and others. The 2010 Laois writer-in-residence, she has a fourth book, Patrick the Younger, due in 2012.

Anne Fitzgerald is a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and Queen’s University, Belfast. Her poetry collections are Swimming Lessons and The Map of Everything. She is a recipient of the Ireland Fund of Monaco Writerin-Residence bursary from the Princess Grace Irish Library.

Anne Le Marquand Hartigan is a poet, playwright, and painter. Her eighth book of poetry, Unsweet Dreams, is forthcoming. Her many awards include the Open Poetry Award, Writer’s Week, and Mobil Prize for Play-writing. Her play La Corbiere was the pick of The Fridge in Washington dc. She lives in Dublin and has six children.

Kevin Higgins is co-organizer of the Over the Edge reading series in Galway. He is the author of four books of poetry, most recently the forthcoming Ghost in the Lobby (Salmon). He facilitates poetry workshops at Galway Arts Centre and teaches creative writing at Galway Technical Institute and on the Brothers of Charity Away with Words program.

Fred Johnston is a reviewer, novelist, and poet. His most recent collection of stories, Orangeman, was published in French translation. He is the founder of ‘‘Cúirt,’’ Galway’s annual literature festival, and founder and director of the Western Writers’ Centre.

Paul Laughlin lives in Derry, Ireland. He has contributed poetry in Irish and English to journals including Aimsir Og, Fortnight, Irish Reporter, and The Stony Thursday Book. His first poetry collection is Narratives and the Interpreted World (Lapwing P).

Catherine Phil MacCarthy’s collections include This Hour of the Tide (Salmon), the blue globe, Suntrap (Blackstaff P), and the forthcoming The Invisible Threshold. She is a former editor of Poetry Ireland Review. Recent anthology publications include Opening Eyes (Cambridge UP), Women Poets Writing in English (Seren), TEXT (Celtic P), and The Bee-Loud Glade (Dedalus).

Terry Maher was born in Dublin and now lives in Germany and works as a gardener. He currently is earning his master’s degree at Manchester Metropolitan University, where he is writing a book-length poetry manuscript. He is married with two children.

Terry McDonagh is a poet, teacher, and dramatist. He has published six collections of poetry, drama, letters, and a novel and poetry for children. His most recent poetry collection is The Truth in Mustard (Arlen House). He was a runner-up for the 2010 Fish Poetry Prize.

Michael McKimm is from North Antrim, Northern Ireland. An Eric Gregory Award winner, he was the British Council Writer-in-Residence at the University of Iowa in 2010.

Doireann Ní Ghríofa lives in Cork. Her poetry has appeared in Feasta, Comhar, Ropes Anthology, and The Stony Thursday Book. She was awarded a prize in the emerging writer category at the 2010 Oireachtas Literary Awards, given a literature bursary by the Arts Council, and was shortlisted in Comórtas Uí Néill 2011. Her debut collection is Résheoid (Coiscéim).

Jean O’Brien won the prestigious biennial Arvon International Poetry Award in 2010. She has three collections published, her last being Lovely Legs (Salmon). Her latest collection, Merman, is due in Spring 2012. She was the featured poet in 2010 in the New Hibernia Review.

Clairr O’Connor is a Dublin-based poet, playwright, and novelist. She has four collections of poetry, most recently the forthcoming So Far (Astrolabe P). Her novel Belonging (Marino) was nominated for an Irish Times/Aer Lingus Award, and Love in Another Room (Attic P) was short-listed for the Listowel Book of the Year Award. Her radio plays have been broadcast on bbc Radio 4 and rte Radio 1.

Karen O’Connor’s first collection of poetry, Fingerprints (On Canvas) (Doghouse), was described by the poet Dr. Brendan Kennelly as a ‘‘brilliant, humane, memorable book.’’ Her second collection, Between the Lines (Doghouse), appeared in June 2011.

Michael O’Dea lives in Dublin. His collections of poetry are Sunfire (Dedalus P), Turn Your Head (Dedalus P), and Felos ainda serra (AmastraN-Galar).

Mary O’Donnell has published six collections of poetry, most recently The Ark Builders (Arc Publications). She has also written three novels and two short-story collections, has won prizes in the V.S. Pritchett Competition and was the overall winner of the 2010 Fish International Short Story Competition. She is guest poet in the National University of Ireland-Maynooth in the creative writing program.

Ciaran O’Driscoll’s six collections of poetry include Gog and Magog (Salmon) and his new and selected poems, Moving On, Still There (Dedalus). His childhood memoir is A Runner Among Falling Leaves (Liverpool UP). His numerous awards include the Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh Fellowship in Poetry. He is a member of Aosdána and committee member of the Cuisle Limerick City International Poetry Festival.

Gréagóir Ó Dúill has had nine collections of poetry published in Irish and two in English along with short stories, a biography, and anthologies. A recipient of bursaries, prizes, and residencies for his work, he teaches creative writing and contemporary Irish literature.

Mary O’Shea has published poems in Poetry Ireland Review, The Salmon, Cathach, and elsewhere. She is the author of three books and the recipient of the Clonmel Writer’s Week Poetry Prize and the Allingham Prize.

Micheal O’Siadhail’s thirteen collections of poetry include Tongues, Globe, Love Life, The Gossamer Wall: Poems in Witness to the Holocaust, and Poems 1975–1995. He has been awarded an Irish American Cultural Institute Prize and a Toonder Prize, and he was shortlisted for the Wingate Jewish Quarterly Prize. He has been a lecturer at Trinity College, Dublin, and a professor at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

Richard O’Toole has worked as a fisherman and truck driver and in construction. He presently is studying radio broadcasting. He is married with two children.

Aidan Rooney is a native of Monaghan, Ireland, and currently lives in Hingham, Massachusetts, where he teaches French at Thayer Academy. He was awarded the Hennessy Literary Award for New Irish Poet in 1997, and his poetry collections include Day Release and Tightrope (The Gallery P).

John Saunders’s debut poetry collection is After the Accident (Lapwing P). His poems have appeared in various magazines and he completed the Faber Academy ‘‘Becoming a Poet’’ course in 2010. He lives in County Offaly, Ireland, with his wife and two children.

Gerard Smyth lives in Dublin. His work is featured regularly on Irish radio and has been published on Poetry International and Poetry Daily. He is the author of seven collections, the most recent being The Fullness of Time, New and Selected Poems (Dedalus P). He is a member of Áosdana.

Martin Swords has been writing poetry and short stories since 1990 and has been published in Lifelines new and collected, Voyages, Wicklow Writers Anthology, and elsewhere. He lives in Tiglin, County Wicklow, Ireland.

Anne Tannam’s debut book of poetry is Take This Life. Her poems have appeared in Irish magazines and anthologies. Born in Dublin, she is a regular contributor to the UpStart blog.

Patrick Toland is a director of social enterprise in Northern Ireland, a new media lecturer, and a freelance journalist. A recent graduate of the new Master of Studies in Creative Writing program at Oxford University, he was selected by Windows Publications as an emerging writer in 2009. His most recent works have been printed in Swamp Magazine and Fortnight Magazine. His poem ‘‘The Naming of Stars’’ was a winner in the 2011 Bodleian Science Library Competition, and ‘‘The House of Tabgha’’ was a winning poem in the 2011 Mill Cove Gallery Painters and Poets Competition.

Ian Watson was born in Belfast but has lived in Bremen, North Germany, for thirty years. He has published poems, articles, and literary translations in English and German. He is the coauthor of the tv documentary Cool to be Celtic on Irish popular music, coproduced for French and German television. He teaches literary writing at universities, in schools, and for adult education. He founded and coedits newleaf magazine, which publishes writing in English from Germany and abroad.

Grace Wells’s debut poetry collection, When God Has Been Called Away to Greater Things (Dedalus P), won the 2011 Rupert & Eithne Strong Best First Collection Award. Formerly an independent tv producer, she won the Eilís Dillon Best Newcomer Bisto Award for her first book, the children’s novel Gyrfalcon. She reviews Irish poetry for Contrary and The Stinging Fly.

Reviews

Timothy Webb has published and lectured widely, especially on Romantic and Irish topics. His publications include books, editions, and articles on Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, James Henry Leigh Hunt, and W. B. Yeats. Currently, he is working on books concerned with Jemmy O’Brien (the Irish informer), stones, and the English Romantics and Ireland.