Photo credit: Conor Horgan
Born in Dublin in 1944, Paul Durcan studied Archaeology and Medieval History at University College Cork. His first solo collection of poetry, O Westport in the Light of Asia Minor, won the Patrick Kavanagh Award in 1975.
Later collections include Teresa’s Bar (1976), Sam’s Cross (1978), Ark of the North (1982), Jesus, Break his Fall (1983), and Going Home to Russia (1987). The Berlin Wall Café (1985) was a choice of the London Poetry Book Society, and Daddy, Daddy (1990) won the Whitbread Poetry Prize. More recently he published Crazy About Women (1991), Give Me Your Hand (1994), Christmas Day (1996), Greetings to Our Friends in Brazil (1999), Cries of an Irish Caveman (2001) and The Art of Life (2004). He was Ireland Professor of Poetry 2004-2007. He lived in Dublin.
Maura McGrath, Chair of the Arts Council, said: “We are deeply saddened by the death of Paul Durcan, one of Ireland’s most distinctive and beloved poetic voices. His contribution to Irish literature was immeasurable, and his influence will resonate for generations. On behalf of the Arts Council, we extend our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, and all who were moved by his extraordinary work
Cecily Brennan, Chair of the Toscaireacht, said “On behalf of the members of Aosdána I express our sadness at the death of Paul Durcan.
“What do you do when you read that a comrade has died?
Do you groan and sigh, ‘God rest his soul’
And continue with what you are doing,
Washing dishes and making phone calls?
Or do you bellow with anger and disbelief
And fling the casserole dish on the floor
And go for a four mile-walk by the sea
Between whose white horses you glimpse him?”
From Paul Durcan’s poem ‘Noel Sheridan’ ‘The Laughter of Mothers 1988.
The Patron of Aosdána, President Michael D Higgins, expresses the importance of his close friend Paul Durcan’s legacy when he says:
“His over 20 collections will be a source of great humanity and insight for generations to come.”
Gerard Smyth, Poetry editor of The Irish Times, points out that:
“Paul Durcan’s prodigious body of work amounts to a profound document recording a period of dramatic change in Irish life, his way of seeing like no other poet’s.”The first time I saw Paul he was striding up and down the beach at Enniscrone in a great coat, silhouetted against the pounding waves. I was a child. My family holidayed in Sligo and even then, Paul was spoken of as a poet. That image, reminiscent of Caspar David Friedrich’s ‘Wanderer’ stayed with me, a visual description of his authority and sense of self.
His integral knowledge of the power of the body, of passion and of drama was central to his work as a man, as a reader and as a powerful exponent of the performed poem, allowing him to connect to and be heard by a very wide audience. He had the capacity to cross boundaries ‘from parochial Ireland to the global village’ as Philip Casey once put it.
We are indebted to him for his unique voice, his wry sardonic humour, great empathy with the situation of women, and his fascination with investigating and responding to painting collections in London, Dublin and Toledo.
Born in Dublin in 1944, Paul Durcan published more than 20 books over his career, including the collections A Snail in My Prime, Crazy About Women, Greetings to Our Friends in Brazil, Cries of an Irish Caveman, and The Berlin Wall Café.
He was the recipient of numerous awards – the Irish American Cultural Institute Poetry Award in 1989, the Whitbread Prize in 1990, and the London Poetry Book Society Choice.
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