Synopses & Reviews
O Westport in the Light of Asia Minor was first published in a tiny edition in Dublin in 1975. Paul Durcan's first published in a tiny edition in Dublin in 1975. Paul Durcan's first full-fledged collection displays an astonishingly mature visionary power. Shot through with the surrealism and heart-breaking comedy that have since become his hallmark, O Westport in the Light of Asia Minor won him the prestigious Patrick Kavanagh Award (1975).Writing in the first issue of the influential Irish Cyphers, the English poet David Wright remarked: "This is the real thing. One can't say more, or less, than that. Durcan's Poems affect me with the same amalgamations of recognition and insightas revelations of what one knows without knowing it, concurrent testimonies as it werethat I find in the work of Patrick Kavanagh. It's a long time since I've felt so excited about a new poet."
About the Author
Paul Durcan is one of Ireland's foremost poets. He was born in Dublin in 1944. His first book, Endsville, has been followed by more than twenty others, including The Berlin Wall Café, Daddy, Daddy, A Snail in My Prime: New and Selected Poems, Cries of an Irish Caveman: New Poems, The Art of Life, and The Laughter of Mothers. In 2009 he published a selection of his work from the previous forty years in one volume, Life is a Dream. In 2001 Paul Durcan received a Cholmondeley Award. He was the Ireland Professor of Poetry 2004-2007. In 2009 he was conferred with an honorary degree by Trinity College, Dublin. He is a member of Aosdána.