Gerald Dawe
Encyclopedia
Gerald Dawe is a Northern Irish
writer
and poet
.
Dawe worked briefly as an assistant librarian at the Fine Arts department, in the Central Library in Belfast before being awarded a Major State Award for Postgraduate Research from the Dept. of Education, Northern Ireland. Dawe decided to attend University College Galway (UCG) and wrote his graduate thesis on the little known 19th century Tyrone novelist and short story writer, William Carleton and started to lecture in the Dept. of English at UCG (now known as the National University of Ireland, Galway
). His first full collection, Sheltering Places, was published in 1978, receiving two years later, a Bursary for Poetry from the Arts Council of Ireland
.
His subsequent volumes, Sunday School (1991) and Heart of Hearts (1995) developed and deepened this exploration of the cultural diversity of Northern Ireland's cultural inheritance as seen through the lifestyle and customs of one family. In 1988 he was appointed Lecturer in English at Trinity College Dublin and for the next five years commuted between his home in Galway
and work in Dublin before the family moved to Dublin in 1992.
Dawe was appointed a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin in 2004 and has also held visiting professorships at Boston College
and Villanova University
in the US as well as receiving International Writers' Fellowships from Hawthorden (UK) and Ledig Roholt foundation in Switzerland
. His recent collections - The Morning Train (1999), Lake Geneva (2003) and Points West (2008) - mark an important departure from the Irish settings and primary concerns of his earlier work and established Dawe as a significant European poet in both range and reference.
He has given numerous readings and lectures in many parts of the world and during the political upheavals in former East Europe was a regular contributor to festivals and conferences organised by The British Council, among others. A volume of his selected poems appeared in German in 2007 and he has also been translated into French and Japanese, while he co-translated into English the early poems of the Sicilian poet and Nobel laureate, Salvatore Quasimodo
.
Dawe has published extensively on Irish poetry and cultural issues, much of which is collected in his four prose works: The Proper Word: Collected Criticism and My Mother-City (both 2007); Catching the Light: Views and Interviews (2008),The World as Province: Selected Prose 1980-2008(2009) and 'Conversations:Poets & Poetry' (2011). He has lived for many years in County Dublin with his wife, Dorothea, who was chairperson of the Irish-British 'think-tank', Encounter, director of the cultural resource body, Cultures of Ireland and head of public affairs at Ireland's national theatre, The Abbey, during the late 1990s. Dawe is the inaugural director of the Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing
, where he directs the graduate writing programme, and Senior lecturer in English with the School of English at Trinity College Dublin.
THE LAGAN SERIES
As editor
As Co-editor
with Edna Longley (1985)
with John Wilson Foster (1991)
with Aodan Mac Poilin (1994; new edition 2011)
with Jonathan Williams (1996)
with Michael Mulreany (2001)
with Terence Brown (2004)
with Maria Johnston (2008)
with Maria Johnston and Clare Wallace (2008)
with Marco Sonzogni (2008)
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
.
Early life
Gerald Dawe was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland and grew up with his mother, sister and grandmother. He attended Orangefield Boys School across the city in East Belfast, a leading progressive liberal state school. He was later involved in the Lyric Youth Theatre under inspirational teacher and theatre director, Sam McCready. Around this time he started to write poems and after a brief period living in London, he returned to the North, receiving a B.A. (Hons) from the fledging New University of Ulster (1974) where his professor was the left wing literary critic and novelist, Walter Allen.Dawe worked briefly as an assistant librarian at the Fine Arts department, in the Central Library in Belfast before being awarded a Major State Award for Postgraduate Research from the Dept. of Education, Northern Ireland. Dawe decided to attend University College Galway (UCG) and wrote his graduate thesis on the little known 19th century Tyrone novelist and short story writer, William Carleton and started to lecture in the Dept. of English at UCG (now known as the National University of Ireland, Galway
National University of Ireland, Galway
The National University of Ireland, Galway is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland...
). His first full collection, Sheltering Places, was published in 1978, receiving two years later, a Bursary for Poetry from the Arts Council of Ireland
Arts Council of Ireland
The Arts Council of Ireland was founded in 1951 by the Government of Ireland to encourage interest in Irish art and channel to funding from the state to Irish artists and arts organisations...
.
Later life and work
In Galway, he met Dorothea Melvin, his future wife, and settled in east Galway with his family - Iarla and Olwen. His second collection, The Lundys Letter, was published in 1985 and was awarded the prestigious Macaulay Fellowship in Literature. The collection was concerned with the cultural and social roots of his background in Belfast and of the different Northern Irish and emigre histories of his own family, highlighted by his new life in the west of Ireland.His subsequent volumes, Sunday School (1991) and Heart of Hearts (1995) developed and deepened this exploration of the cultural diversity of Northern Ireland's cultural inheritance as seen through the lifestyle and customs of one family. In 1988 he was appointed Lecturer in English at Trinity College Dublin and for the next five years commuted between his home in Galway
Galway
Galway or City of Galway is a city in County Galway, Republic of Ireland. It is the sixth largest and the fastest-growing city in Ireland. It is also the third largest city within the Republic and the only city in the Province of Connacht. Located on the west coast of Ireland, it sits on the...
and work in Dublin before the family moved to Dublin in 1992.
Dawe was appointed a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin in 2004 and has also held visiting professorships at Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
and Villanova University
Villanova University
Villanova University is a private university located in Radnor Township, a suburb northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States...
in the US as well as receiving International Writers' Fellowships from Hawthorden (UK) and Ledig Roholt foundation in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. His recent collections - The Morning Train (1999), Lake Geneva (2003) and Points West (2008) - mark an important departure from the Irish settings and primary concerns of his earlier work and established Dawe as a significant European poet in both range and reference.
He has given numerous readings and lectures in many parts of the world and during the political upheavals in former East Europe was a regular contributor to festivals and conferences organised by The British Council, among others. A volume of his selected poems appeared in German in 2007 and he has also been translated into French and Japanese, while he co-translated into English the early poems of the Sicilian poet and Nobel laureate, Salvatore Quasimodo
Salvatore Quasimodo
Salvatore Quasimodo was an Italian author and poet. In 1959 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature "for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times". Along with Giuseppe Ungaretti and Eugenio Montale, he is one of the foremost Italian poets...
.
Dawe has published extensively on Irish poetry and cultural issues, much of which is collected in his four prose works: The Proper Word: Collected Criticism and My Mother-City (both 2007); Catching the Light: Views and Interviews (2008),The World as Province: Selected Prose 1980-2008(2009) and 'Conversations:Poets & Poetry' (2011). He has lived for many years in County Dublin with his wife, Dorothea, who was chairperson of the Irish-British 'think-tank', Encounter, director of the cultural resource body, Cultures of Ireland and head of public affairs at Ireland's national theatre, The Abbey, during the late 1990s. Dawe is the inaugural director of the Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing
Oscar Wilde Centre
The Oscar Wilde Centre is an academic research and teaching unit in Trinity College, Dublin. It was founded in 1998, and is located at 21 Westland Row, the house in which Oscar Wilde was born and raised. This building, which is on the perimeter of Trinity, was purchased in the 20th century as part...
, where he directs the graduate writing programme, and Senior lecturer in English with the School of English at Trinity College Dublin.
Poetry
- Sheltering Places (1978; new and revd.2008)
- The Lundys Letter (1985)
- Sunday School (1991)
- Heart of Hearts (1995)
- The Morning Train (1999)
- Lake Geneva (2003)
- Points West (2008)
- Country Music:Uncollected Poems 1974-1989' (2009)
Essays
- The Proper Word: Ireland, Poetry, Politics (2007)
THE LAGAN SERIES
- My Mother-City (a memoir) (2007)
- The World as Province: Selected prose 1980-2008 (2009)
- Conversations: Poets & Poetry (2011)
As editor
- The Younger Irish Poets (1982)
- The New Younger Irish Poets (1991)
- Yeats: The Poems, a new selection (1991)
- Earth Voices Whispering: Irish poetry of war, 1914-1945 (2008)
As Co-editor
- Across a Roaring Hill: the Protestant Imagination in Modern Ireland
with Edna Longley (1985)
- The Poet's Place: Essays on Ulster Literature & Society
with John Wilson Foster (1991)
- Ruined Pages: Selected Poems of Padraic Fiacc
with Aodan Mac Poilin (1994; new edition 2011)
- Krino: the Review, 1986–1996, an anthology of modern Irish writing
with Jonathan Williams (1996)
- The Ogham Stone: an anthology of modern Ireland
with Michael Mulreany (2001)
- The Writer Fellow
with Terence Brown (2004)
- High Pop: the Irish Times column of Stewart Parker
with Maria Johnston (2008)
- Dramatis Personae and other writings by Stewart Parker
with Maria Johnston and Clare Wallace (2008)
- The Night Fountain: Selected early poems of Salvatore Quasimodo
with Marco Sonzogni (2008)