Irish Writers Online / Author
Dennis O’Driscoll
Dennis O’Driscoll was born in Thurles, Co Tipperary, in 1954.
He is a former editor of Poetry Ireland Review, and one of Ireland’s most widely published and respected critics of poetry.
His poetry volumes include Kist (Mountrath, Dolmen Press, 1982); Hidden Extras (London, Anvil Press Poetry / Dublin, The Dedalus Press, 1987); Long Story Short (Anvil Press Poetry/ The Dedalus Press, 1993); Quality Time (Anvil Press Poetry, 1997); Weather Permitting (Anvil Press Poetry, 1999), a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and shortlisted for the Irish Times Poetry Prize; Exemplary Damages (Anvil Press Poetry, 2002); and New & Selected Poems (Anvil Press, 2004), a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation. His latest collection, Reality Check (Anvil Press, 2007/Port Townsend, Washington, Copper Canyon Press, 2008), was shortlisted for the Irish Times/Poetry Now Award.
His poems are included in The Wake Forest Series of Irish Poetry 1 (Wake Forest University Press, North Carolina, 2005). He has published three limited edition chapbooks, The Bottom Line (The Dedalus Press, 1994), 50 O'clock (Essex, The Happy Dragons Press, 2005) and All the Living (St Paul, Minnesota, Traffic Street Press, 2008).
A selection from his Pickings and Choosings columns in Poetry Ireland Review, As The Poet Said, edited by Tony Curtis, was published by Poetry Ireland in 1997. He edited and compiled The Bloodaxe Book of Poetry Quotations (Newcastle upon Tyne, Bloodaxe, 2006) and its American counterpart, Quote Poet Unquote (Copper Canyon Press, 2008).
His prose writing is collected as Troubled Thoughts, Majestic Dreams: Selected Prose Writings (Oldcastle, Co Meath, Gallery, 2001).
His awards include a Lannan Literary Award in 1999, the 2005 E.M. Forster Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the 2006 O’Shaughnessy Award for Poetry from the Center for Irish Studies, Minnesota.
A member of Aosdána, he works as a civil servant and lives in Co Kildare.
