Poet Theo Dorgan inaugurates series celebrating Irish writing and culture

Irish poet Theo Dorgan will inaugurate a series celebrating Irish writing and its culture with a reading at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 22, at the Saint John's Pottery Studio.

The event will honor S. Colman O'Connell, OSB, former president and current senior development officer at the College of Saint Benedict, and is free and open to the public.

The award-winning poet, prose writer, novelist and editor was born into a working-class family in Cork, Ireland. He received his early education at the North Monastery before going on to earn postgraduate degrees in English literature and philosophy from University College Cork.

Dorgan's most recent book, "Nine Bright Shiners," is a collection of poems that reflect on death and mortality. The elegies explore subjects from the death of his baby sister to that of a more recent suicide. Dorgan's fearless approach to death in his writing has propelled his works into the public sphere in Ireland and worldwide.

His individualistic style has drawn readers to his work since his first book, "The Ordinary House of Love." Dorgan writes in ways that "no contemporary British poet would risk," Fiona Sampson, editor of Poetry Review, said. While his most recent book focuses on personal experiences with death, his work as a whole engages a wide public audience.

Dorgan has served as editor of many prestigious literary projects including "The Great Book of Ireland," a collection containing over 200 Irish artists, poets and composers, "The Great Book of Gaelic" and "Watching the River Flow, a Century in Irish Poetry."

Many of his works have been translated from English and published in Italy, Spain and Austria.

He has taught classes at the University College Cork while also managing the literature program of the Triskel Arts Centre. He has worked as a broadcaster in television and radio and served as director of Poetry Ireland.

Among his numerous awards are the 1992 Listowel Prize for Poetry and the 2010 O'Shaughnessy Prize for Irish Poetry. He served on the 2005 Board of Cork European Capital of Culture and is a member of Aosdána, a group honoring artists whose work has made outstanding contributions to arts in Ireland.

The event is being sponsored by the SJU Chair in Critical Thinking, Saint John's Pottery and the College of Saint Benedict Literary Arts Institute.