Irish Writers Online / Author
Pat Boran
Pat Boran was born in Portlaoise in 1963.
His poetry collections are The Unwound Clock (Dublin, The Dedalus
Press, 1990), which
won the Patrick Kavanagh Award; Familiar Things
(Dedalus, 1993);
The Shape of Water (Dedalus, 1996); As the Hand, the Glove (Dedalus, 2001); and New and
Selected Poems, with an introduction by
Dennis O’Driscoll (Cambridge, UK, Salt Publishing, 2005). The latter is updated in a new addition as New & Selected Poems (Dublin, Dedalus Press, 2007)
His collection of short stories,
Strange Bedfellows was published by Salmon Poetry in
1991. He has published short
fiction for children, All the Way to China (Dublin, Poolebeg Wren, 1998); a
handbook for beginning writers,
The Portable Creative Writing Workshop
(Salmon, 1999; revised edition, Dublin, New Island Books, 2005);
A Short History of Dublin (Killeen Books, 1996; republished, Cork, Mercier, 2000); and a memoir, The Invisible Prison
Scenes from an Irish Childhood (Dedalus Press, 2009.
Outside of his literary work he has also published, as KS Daly: Ireland, an
Encyclopedia for the Bewildered (Aurum, London, 1995/Ten Speed, California, 1996) and Sex, an
Encyclopedia for the Bewildered (Aurum, 1996).
He has translated Jean Orizet’s Man and His Masks: L’Homme Et Ses Masques (Poetry Europe Series)(Dublin, The Dedalus Press, 1998); and Alex Susanna’s Forgotten Music (Poetry Europe Series, The Dedalus Press, 2003)
He is a former Director of The Dublin Writers’ Festival,
and presenter of the RTÉ poetry radio programme
The Enchanted Way.
In 2005 he suceeded John F. Deane as editor and publisher of the Dedalus Press, one of Ireland’s long-standing literary imprints, which specializes in contemporary poetry from Ireland and poetry from around the world in English translation.
A member of Aosdána, he lives in Dublin.
