Literature
Conleth O’Connor
Born in Newbridge, Co Kildare, he grew up in Camolin, Co. Wexford, where his family had its roots, and in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. He became a full-time writer from 1977, teaching creative writing occasionally. He was one of Ireland’s most distinctive and experimental poets until his premature death in 1993, and his poetry was published in Ireland and abroad. He made middle-class Dublin suburbia a territory peculiarly his own in books like Trinities (1976) and A Corpse Auditions Its Mourners (new and selected poems, 1987). These two, along with The Judas Cry (1979) and Behind the Garden Gnomes (1982) comprised his four acclaimed collections during his life. Days Without Sun, Night Without Stars (1996), also acclaimed, was published posthumously. He wrote two plays, The Re-Incarnation of Mr. Dogsbody, and Two Letters and Overtime. His novel, Manus, completed shortly before his death, is unpublished. Another novel, Peregrine St. John Corkoran was unfinished.