New Writers Press is an Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 small press

Printing press

A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...

 that specialises in poetry

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

 publishing

Publishing

Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...

. The press was founded in 1967 by the 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...

s Michael Smith

Michael Smith (poet)

Michael Smith is an Irish poet, author and translator.A member of Aosdána, the Irish National Academy of Artists, Michael Smith was the first Writer in-Residence to be appointed by University College, Dublin and is an Honorary Fellow of UCD. He is a poet who has given a lifetime of service to the...

 and Trevor Joyce

Trevor Joyce

Trevor Joyce is an Irish poet, born in Dublin.He co-founded New Writers' Press in Dublin in 1967 and was a founding editor of NWP's The Lace Curtain; A Magazine of Poetry and Criticism in 1968....

 and Smith's wife Irene in response to what they felt to be the stagnant state of Irish poetry

Irish poetry

The history of Irish poetry includes the poetries of two languages, one in Irish and the other in English. The complex interplay between these two traditions, and between both of them and other poetries in English, has produced a body of work that is both rich in variety and difficult to...

 at the time.

The press was very active for the first 12 years of its existence, publishing some 46 items, including the six issues of the journal The Lace Curtain

The Lace Curtain

The Lace Curtain was an occasional literary magazine founded and edited by Michael Smith and Trevor Joyce under their New Writers Press imprint...

. Since 1979, there have been approximately 12 new titles, some of them in collaboration with British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, Canadian and Polish small press publishers.

The press was committed to help revive interest in the modernist

Modernist poetry

Modernist poetry refers to poetry written between 1890 and 1950 in the tradition of modernist literature in the English language, but the dates of the term depend upon a number of factors, including the nation of origin, the particular school in question, and the biases of the critic setting the...

 tradition in Irish poetry, and to this end they published Thomas MacGreevy

Thomas MacGreevy

Thomas MacGreevy was a pivotal figure in the history of Irish literary modernism. A poet, he was also director of the National Gallery of Ireland from 1950 to 1963 and served on the first Irish Arts Council .-Early life:MacGreevy was born in County Kerry, the son of a policeman and a primary...

's Collected Poems, Brian Coffey

Brian Coffey

Brian Coffey was an Irish poet and publisher. His work was informed by his Catholicism and by his background in science and philosophy, and his connection to surrealism. For these reasons, he is seen as being closer to an intellectual European Catholic tradition than to mainstream Irish Catholic...

's Selected Poems and a special 1930s issue of the journal, all in 1971.

In addition to work by Coffey, MacGreevy, Joyce and Smith, New Writers Press authors included Jack Spicer

Jack Spicer

Jack Spicer was an American poet often identified with the San Francisco Renaissance. In 2009, My Vocabulary Did This to Me: The Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer won the American Book Award for poetry.-Life and work:...

, Anthony Cronin

Anthony Cronin

Anthony Cronin is an Irish poet. He received the Marten Toonder Award for his contribution to Irish literature....

, Michael Hartnett, Augustus Young

Augustus Young

For the U.S. Representative from Vermont, see Augustus Young .Augustus Young is an Irish poet.-Biography:Young worked in London as an epidemiologist and adviser to health authorities, and now lives in France...

, Tom MacIntyre, Patrick Galvin

Patrick Galvin

Patrick Galvin was an Irish poet, singer, playwright, and prose and screen writer born in Cork's inner city.-Biography:Galvin was born in Cork in 1927 at a time of great political transition in Ireland...

, Paul Durcan

Paul Durcan

Paul Durcan is a contemporary Irish poet.-Early life:Durcan grew up in Dublin and in Turlough, County Mayo. His father, John, was a barrister and circuit court judge; father and son had a difficult and formal relationship. Durcan enjoyed a warmer and more natural relationship with his mother,...

, Robert Pawlowski, and Antonio Machado

Antonio Machado

Antonio Cipriano José María y Francisco de Santa Ana Machado y Ruiz, known as Antonio Machado was a Spanish poet and one of the leading figures of the Spanish literary movement known as the Generation of '98....

(in Smith's translation).

Print

• Coughlan, P. and Davis, A. (eds). Modernism and Ireland: the Poetry of the 1930s ISBN 1-85918-061-2

Online

• A checklist of publications compiled by Trevor Joyce