Influential Irish poet Paul Durcan dies aged 80
Born in Dublin in 1944, Mr Durcan published more than 20 books over his lengthy career, including the collections
A Snail in My Prime, Crazy About Women, Greetings to Our Friends in Brazil, Cries of an Irish Caveman,
and T
he Berlin Wall Café.
His work also saw him garner numerous awards, including the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award in 1974, the Irish American Cultural Institute Poetry Award in 1989, the Whitbread Prize in 1990, and the London Poetry Book Society Choice.
Many of his poems have been featured on the Leaving Certificate English syllabus.
Mr Durcan turned 80 just last year. A collection of his work titled 80 at 80, edited by Niall MacMonagle, was published to mark the occasion.
In his introduction to the collection, which was also published in The Irish Times, writer Colm Tóibín described Paul Durcan's work as 'daring, directly personal as well as directly political.'
"Durcan's public poems are risk-taking explorations of the intersection where tragedy and comedy meet in contemporary Ireland," he wrote.
"His poems are open forms filled by voices, often the voice of the poet himself or someone like him, or the voice of a persona he has created or a character he has made. Some of the narrative is shot through with surprise or delight or wonder at the strangeness of the world or the sheer sadness of things.
"At the centre of Durcan's poetic enterprise is an urge to destabilise and make us re-see what is odd and what is ordinary."
A member of Aosdána, the National Library of Ireland acquired Paul Durcan's archive in 2024.
In a statement, Mr Durcan's family said he would be 'sadly missed by [his wife] Nessa, his daughters Sarah and Síabhra, his son Michael, his sons-in-law, Mark and Blaise, his daughter-in-law, Linden, and his nine grandchildren.'
Funeral details will be announced at a later date, his family added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Irish Times
TV aerial in commemorative Daniel O'Connell stamp is ‘visual signal' to modern age, not product of AI, says An Post
TV aerials were not common in Daniel O'Connell 's day so what's one doing in a new postage stamp commemorating the 250th anniversary of his birth? The An Post stamp depicts the Liberator's triumphant procession in a gilded chariot through Dublin following his release from Richmond prison in 1844. Unusually, in the top-right corner of the stamp, on a chimney in the panorama of 19th-century Dublin, is a TV aerial, many decades before the invention of the television. Some members of the public contacted An Post following the stamp's launch to complain the aerial might be a product of artificial intelligence (AI) given that AI-generated images often include historical or physical anomalies. READ MORE Not so, says David Rooney, one of the country's best-known graphic artists, who created the image. 'The inclusion of the tiny TV aerial was of course deliberate and not a mistake on my part,' he told The Irish Times. 'I thought it would be interesting to allude to and imagine the impact the great communicator Daniel O'Connell's mass rallies would have had if they had been televised. 'I was greatly taken by the fantastical and surreal elements in his pageantry.' The picture was created using Rooney's preferred technique of scraperboard before being digitally scanned and coloured. 'I've been almost 40 years working as a professional illustrator and I've often included surreal elements in my work,' said Rooney. 'I guess in the AI environment we now inhabit these may be misread. I put a lot work into these stamps, which I'm very proud of.' The world of illustration has been disrupted by the arrival of AI, with many artists losing income amid widespread protests against its use by publishers. An Post said Rooney's stamp included 'a 'visual signal' to link to the very modern, global range and impact of O'Connell'. The Liberator's methods of communications were 'thoroughly modern – hence the inclusion of a sort of anachronism to link those very points', it said. An Post noted that the company was 'one of the most prolific and constant commissions of Irish art and design. 'We do not use AI in stamp design.'
Irish Times
24-07-2025
- Irish Times
Lucy Steeds' The Artist wins Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize
In The Irish Times this Saturday, Vona Groarke, the new Ireland Professor of Poetry, talks to Edel Coffey; Peter Guralnick tells Peter Murphy about completing his biographical trilogy with The Colonel and the King: Tom Parker, Elvis Presley and the Partnership that Rocked the World; Breandán Mac Suibhne uncovers the inspirations for some of Brian Friel's characters; and there is a Q&A with writer Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick. Reviews are Paschal Donohoe on Nature Capital: The Value of the World Around Us by Partha Dasgupta and Slow Down or Die: The Economics of Degrowth by Timothee Parrique, translated by Claire Benoit; Andrew Lynch on The Colonialist: The Vision of Cecil Rhodes by William Kelleher Storey; Siobhán Long on Beating Time: the Story of the Irish Bodhrán by Fintan Vallely; Vona Groarke on the best new poetry collections; Miriam Balanescu on Pan by Michael Clune; Emily Formstone on News of the World and An Aran Keening by Andrew McNeillie; Declan Burke on scifi; Ruby Eastwood on Wolf Moon by Arifa Akbar; Paul Gillespie on Etain Tannam's British-Irish Relations in the Twenty-First Century, The Good Friday Agreement, Brexit and the Totality of Relations; Brigid O'Dea on Migraine by Samuel Fisher; Matthew O'Toole on The Root of All Evil by Cormac Moore; and Seamus Martin on The World of the Cold War by Vladislav Zubok. This weekend's Irish Times Eason offer is Heart, Be at Peace by Donal Ryan, just €5.99, a €6 saving. Eason offer Lucy Steeds was named winner of the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2025 for her novel The Artist, tonight at the Waterstones flagship bookshop in Piccadilly. Set over one sweltering summer during the 1920s, The Artist focuses on an enigmatic painter, the young British journalist set on penning a piece on him, and the artist's seemingly unworldly niece. As the young man sets out to write his piece on the great and terrifying painter, tensions between the three come to a dramatic conclusion. The prize consists of £5,000 and the promise of ongoing commitment to the winner's writing career. Last year's winner, Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon, shot into the bestseller charts after the announcement and the Irish author went on to be nominated for the Waterstones Book of the Year, the Nero Book Awards, the BAMB fiction award and the Dylan Thomas Prize. The book also featured on the BBC's Between the Covers, won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize and The Authors' Club 2025 Best First Novel Award. Bea Carvalho, Waterstones Head of Books, says: 'It is a great pleasure to announce that Waterstones booksellers have chosen Lucy Steeds as the winner of the 2025 Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize for her novel The Artist. From a shortlist of six stunning books, The Artist stood out for its atmospheric, sensory prose, and its headily evocative sense of time and place. It is a stylish, elegant treat of a novel which seamlessly transports the reader to sun-soaked southern France, weaving mystery with romance, while delving into the complex nature of artistry. 'Lucy Steeds is a writer of staggering, rare talent: she is able to conjure vivid brushstrokes, sticky heat, and the smells and tastes of Provence, through words on the page. This is a gorgeously claustrophobic novel to be fully swept away by: The Artist has something for readers of all taste and heralds the arrival of an exciting new voice. We can't wait to see what Lucy Steeds does next.' Steeds said: 'My inspirations were twofold: firstly, I was fascinated by the concept of Art Monsters. These tyrannical figures who act abominably to the people around them in order to create great art. I was less interested in the art we've gained from these monsters, and more interested in the art we've lost. What could have been created if these tyrants weren't crushing everyone around them? Secondly, how much colour, texture, smell, and taste was it possible to convey on a page? How intensely could I evoke heat? Was it possible to create a painting using words instead of a brush? I wanted to write a book that felt alive.' Also shortlisted were Confessions by Catherine Airey and Ordinary Saints by Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin. Trinity College Dublin's Icarus magazine launch On August 27th, The Irish Writers Centre will host the launch of Icarus magazine's 75th anniversary issue. Ireland's oldest active arts magazine will celebrate the occasion by featuring work from prominent former contributors and editors, while also promoting the work of Trinity College's brightest student writers and artists. Icarus has been a platform for many notable Irish writers since 1950, with past editors including David Norris, Brendan Kennelly, Derek Mahon, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Vona Groarke, Michael Longley and Sebastian Barry. The magazine has also featured work from Eavan Boland, Seamus Heaney, William Burroughs, Paul Durcan, Thom Gunn, Colm Toibín and Simon Armitage over its long and decorated history. Icarus has appeared frequently in Irish Times coverage, for example, in 1994, David Norris stated 'Icarus was and has remained an important forum for literary talent', speaking to a legacy that continues to be fulfilled. Icarus Issue 75.3 will mark the anniversary by including an exciting variety of new and unseen work by some of the biggest names in Irish writing and poetry, while republishing many of the greatest works contributed by student writers over its history, some of whom went on to define a generation of Irish life and culture. The special edition will, as always, spotlight the most engaging work by current student writers and artists of Trinity College as well. Icarus has always been at the cutting edge of Irish literature, encouraging many students to begin their writing journeys, something the editors, Cat Grogan and Louise Norris, wish to continue with this exciting issue. * Mary O'Malley has been shortlisted for the 2025 Derek Walcott Prize with her collection The Shark Nursery, along with fellow Carcanet authors Gillian Clarke, who is shortlisted with The Silence, and Christine Roseeta Walker with Coco Island. The full shortlist is available here . Honouring the work of St Lucian Nobel Prize poet Derek Walcott, the prize is offered annually for a book of poetry by a non-US citizen published anywhere in the world. It includes a $2,000 honorarium. This year's winner will be announced in October. The judge for this year's award is Ishion Hutchinson. * Literature Ireland and Atelier Samuel Beckett have announced a pilot literature residency for French and Irish artists at Atelier Samuel Beckett, supported by Literature Ireland, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in conjunction with the Centre National du Livre in Paris and the Irish Embassy, France. Atelier Samuel Beckett is an artist residency founded by Judy Hegarty Lovett and Conor Lovett, set in a country house on the banks of the river Seine just outside Paris. The shared residency will take place from October 13th until November 7th and includes return travel from Ireland to France, living expenses, and self-catering accommodation. Details on how to apply are here . The closing date for applications is August 20th. * The Banagher Brontë Group, founded in 2023, is hosting the Irish launch of Let Me In: The Brontës in Bricks and Mortar, by Ann Dinsdale and Sharon Wright. Kay Sheehy, recently retired RTÉ Radio 1 presenter and producer, will launch the book. Dinsdale is the principal curator of the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, Yorkshire, home of the Brontës, as well as author of many books on the literary family and Sharon Wright is the author of The Mother of the Brontës, the biography of Maria Brontë. The launch, on August 16th, is part of a gala garden party in Charlotte's Way, Banagher, formerly Hill House, home to Arthur Bell Nicholls, husband of Charlotte Brontë. Tickets are available on Eventbrite and included in your ticket is a signed copy of the book, a buffet meal, musical entertainment and a great Brontë day out. The group has a three-day programme of events celebrating the Brontë/Irish connection as part of Heritage Week, August 16th-18th. This festival is a must for Brontë enthusiasts and would be a great introduction for you to the Banagher Brontë Group. If you would like to find out more, visit the website . * The literary strand of Clifden Arts Festival 2025 offers a powerful programme of talks, readings and conversations from 17–28 September in the heart of Connemara. Historian Diarmaid Ferriter reflects on Ireland's transformation since the 1990s in his lecture The Revelation of Ireland 1995–2025. Branding expert John Fanning, former MD of McConnells and UCD lecturer, explores advertising, identity and storytelling in The Making of an Irish Icon: Barry's Tea. Broadcaster John Creedon shares stories from his bestselling memoir This Boy's Heart, while Irish Times GAA columnist Ciarán Murphy presents Old Parish, his witty account of learning hurling later in life. Poetry features strongly with Luke Morgan, winner of the 2025 Lawrence O'Shaughnessy Award, Séamus Ruttledge, and guests from Gallery Press. Together, these voices offer insight, humour and reflection—celebrating the richness of Irish experience through the written and spoken word. Full programme and tickets: * The Inchicore Ledwidge Society will celebrate its 30th Anniversary on August 3rd at the Irish National War Memorial Gardens, Islandbridge in Dublin. It was founded in 1995 to commemorate the soldier poet from Slane, Co Meath, who joined the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers at Richmond Barracks, Inchicore in October 1914. The chairman of the Society has devoted many years to research on the poet and his works. In 1997, he added 66 uncollected poems (20 of which were previously unpublished) and he continues to gather lost poems and other material. The Society also published the prose of Francis Ledwidge for the first time in book form. In addition to the annual wreath laying ceremony and poetry reading, the society has organised an international poetry competition for the past 27 years. * The Irish Writers Centre, Ireland's leading resource for writers, has appointed seven new board members, reflecting a broad mix of expertise across literature, law, business, and the arts. The new appointments come as the Centre enters an ambitious phase of development under CEO Mags McLoughlin. Joining the board are Maria Dickenson, a leading figure in the Irish book trade; BDO Ireland Managing Partner Brian McEnery; barrister Patrick Barrett; creative writing scholar Dr Gráinne Daly; IDA VP Brendan McDonald; leadership expert coach Helen Connealy; and chartered director Anne Fleck-Byrne. They join existing board members Breda Brown, a communications consultant, Áine Denn, a tech entrepreneur, and author and solicitor Rosemary Hennigan. Chair Breda Brown said: 'This is an inspiring group with a shared passion for supporting writers. Their combined expertise will shape the next chapter of our work across the island Ireland.' * Members of Femina Culpa, a Northern Ireland based poetry collective, will be reading at a variety of locations in London between 6 and 9 August. Emma McKervey, Milena Williamson and Linda McKenna have received funding from Culture Ireland towards their readings at the National Poetry Library, Keats House Museum, the Bank of England Museum and Bethlem Museum of the Mind. They will present poems from their most recent collections, published by Turas Press, Dedalus Press and Doire Press, which are inspired by their research into nineteenth century women caught up in the criminal justice system of the past. * Féile an Phobail, the West Belfast festival, kicks off on July 26th and runs till August 10th with a packed programme of craic agus ceol, discussion and debates, theatre, comedy, exhibitions, sports, tours and scores of local events. Danny Morrison will be launching his updated memoir, All The Dead Voices, in Glór na Mona, Ballymurphy, on August 1st. Morrison will also be interviewing Pat Magee (Where Grieving Begins: Building Bridges after the Brighton Bomb) about the representation of Irish republicans in Troubles' fiction, film and drama. Magee's book, Gangsters of Guerrillas?, was based on 480 novels he analysed while serving five life sentences. That discussion will be in the James Connolly Visitor Centre on August 5th. Scribes at the Rock, Rock Bar, on August 7th, features Liz Nugent (in interview); Rosie Schapp reading from The Slow Road North ('A beautiful, unsparing memoir about grief' - Irish Times); and Tim O'Grady on his new novel, Monaghan.
Irish Times
21-07-2025
- Irish Times
Not wanting to be outdone by the Beckhams, I decided we should mark our anniversary
I was having an existential crisis. It happens. Possibly a little bit more regularly now as I clock up the years. And it's often triggered by life's milestones and challenges: children's birthdays, school summer holidays and the end of another academic year ; a child finishing school altogether; a Leaving Cert holiday and the tortured helplessness felt at home while himself is living his best life – and even remembering to wear factor 50 sunscreen, after all; watching the price of chocolate increase; the inability to find a pair of decent-fitting jeans in this post-skinny jeans era. Who am I? What am I doing with my life? How the hell did I get here? These are life's big questions that I ask of myself more frequently than I care to admit. READ MORE Anyway, the latest thing to trigger me was my 25th wedding anniversary. How can that possibly have come around already? I still feel 25, never mind 25 years married, though my right hip begs to differ. But silver wedding anniversaries? Well they're for old people, surely. And I refuse to get old. And how can it really be 25 years anyway, when I can still clearly smell the orange and lemons of Sorrento. We've never really been ones for marking wedding anniversaries. We were already parents by the time the first anniversary happened, so that trumped the – at the time, seemingly self-indulgent – idea of celebrations. After all, there was sleep deprivation to endure. And so beyond, on our 20th anniversary, mentioning in The Irish Times that he forgot our first one – because, you know, a wife with an axe to grind and a newspaper column is not for faint-hearted husbands – we've never really made a thing of it. [ Jen Hogan: It's our 20th wedding anniversary. I wonder will he remember Opens in new window ] But this time, I decided I wanted to make a thing of it. After all, the Beckhams, who share a wedding anniversary with us, never miss an opportunity to get the wedding album out on social media. So, not wanting to be outdone by someone who used to play for Manchester United, I decided we should buy some purple suits and head back to Rome and show the children where we got married, for the occasion. Alas, they appeared to be all out of matching purple suits that day I went to Dundrum Shopping Centre. And, it turned out we couldn't afford to go to Rome either, on account of having a ridiculous number of children. So we settled on Galway, which is more or less the same thing anyway, if you squint a little. I am not averse to using a bit of emotional blackmail when I need to. Judge me all you like, I'll probably just use it in a future column. And so, taking no chances in the quest to get all my children together to celebrate this momentous occasion, I lead with a 'more than anything I can possibly think of, for our 25th wedding anniversary, your dad and I would love to get a night away with the nine of us. All of us together again. Are you free next weekend?' text to the one who had the cheek to grow up, move out and leave me with all these boys. She said she was. Discussions ensued, between the siblings, over which child would bunk in with which child, largely determined by who was deemed to fart the most (or the least, depending on your perspective). The van was packed and the Hogans were off to Galway. All nine of us. Together again. Order was restored to my galaxy. [ The summer juggle: How to work while the kids are off Opens in new window ] We were staying at the Connacht, a family-friendly hotel whose claims of which are put to the test by my supersized brood (it passes, with flying colours). A swim was first on the agenda. 'You're coming too, aren't you Mum?,' the youngest asked, giving me no out. Ten minutes after everyone else had got into the pool, I joined them. Because that's how I roll. A woman smiled at me, and I smiled back, thinking to myself how friendly the natives were. Then she gave a gentle wave as I walked past. And I waved back, thinking again 'super friendly people'. 'You didn't know it was me, did you?,' the friendly woman said laughing, as the familiar dread of meeting someone out of context and not recognising them began to set in. I was going to have to come clean. Turns out it was just the curse of shortsightedness, and a world viewed stubbornly in soft focus. To the point I hadn't recognised my own daughter. The eyesight, at least, is consistent with 25 years ago. We swam, ate, played and laughed, and I even forgot this anniversary made me sound middle-aged. Because we were all together again, and everything made sense.
