Mary Dorcey (born in 1950) is an Irish poet, novelist, short story writer, feminist and LGBTQIA+ activist. She was a former
writer in residence
Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...
at
Trinity College Dublin
, name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin
, motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin)
, motto_lang = la
, motto_English = It will last i ...
and the Women's Education, Research and Resource Centre of
University College Dublin
University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...
. She has been described as a lyric poet who celebrates the life of the emotions and senses. She speaks of her fiction work as exploring the intimate space between social structures and individual imagination. Clodagh Corcoran in ''
The Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
'' described her novel ''Biography of Desire'' as "arguably the first truly erotic Irish novel."
Biography
Dorcey was born in
County Dublin
"Action to match our speech"
, image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg
, map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...
, Ireland, in 1950. She attended
Paris Diderot University
Paris Diderot University, also known as Paris 7 (french: Université Paris Diderot), was a French university located in Paris, France. It was one of the inheritors of the historic University of Paris, which was split into 13 universities in 197 ...
in
Paris, France
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
, and then
Open University
The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...
. She is a research associate at
Trinity College Dublin
, name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin
, motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin)
, motto_lang = la
, motto_English = It will last i ...
,
where for ten years she was a writer in residence at the Centre for Gender and Women's Studies. During this time, she conducted seminars on contemporary
English literature and led a creative writing workshop. She also taught in the School for Justice at
University College Dublin
University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...
.
She has published seven collections of poetry, one novel, one collection of short stories, and one
novella.
"Life Holds Its Breath", her latest collection, was published in 2022 by
Salmon Poetry and reviewed in ''
The Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
'' by
Seán Hewitt as "moving, surprising, full of sun-dappled desire and refreshingly fluid evocation." Her collection, "New and Selected Poems", was published by Salmon Poetry in 2017.
Dorcey is recognized as a pioneer of the gay and lesbian rights movement in Ireland.
She came out in 1974. She was a founder member of Irish Women United, Women for Radical Change and The Movement for Sexual Liberation.
She has lived and worked in the United States, England, France, Spain, and Japan.
Recognition
Dorcey's poetry and fiction is taught internationally at universities throughout Europe, the United States, Britain, Canada, Africa and China.
Her poems are studied on the English curriculum for the Irish
Junior Certificate
Junior Cycle ( ga, An tSraith Shóisearach ) is the first stage of the education programme for post-primary education within the Republic of Ireland. It is overseen by the State Examinations Commission of the Department of Education, the Stat ...
and British
O Levels
The O-Level (Ordinary Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education. It was introduced in place of the School Certificate in 1951 as part of an educational reform alongside the more in-depth ...
. 'First Love' was selected for the revised Junior Cycle and included in the BBC anthology, 'A Hundred Favourite Poems of Childhood.'
Her work has attracted international research and has been the subject of academic essays and critiques. It has been reproduced in more than one hundred anthologies representing Irish, gay and women's literature.
Her poems have been performed on radio and television stations, such as on BBC,
RTÉ and
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
. Her stories have been dramatized for radio and stage productions in Ireland, the United Kingdom and Australia.
Dorcey won the
Rooney Prize for Irish Literature
The Rooney Prize for Irish Literature was created in 1976 by the Irish American businessman Dan Rooney, owner and chairman of the NFL Pittsburgh Steelers franchise and former US Ambassador to Ireland. The prize is awarded to Irish writers aged ...
for her short story collection ''A Noise from the Woodshed''
in 1990. In 2010
Aosdána
Aosdána ( , ; from , 'people of the arts') is an Irish association of artists. It was created in 1981 on the initiative of a group of writers with support from the country's Arts Council. Membership, which is by invitation from current member ...
awarded her the honorary Irish Academy of Arts and Letters. She was nominated by poet
Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill
Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill (; born 1952) is a leading Irish poet.
Biography
Born in Lancashire, England, of Irish parents, she moved to Ireland at the age of 5 and was brought up in the Dingle Gaeltacht and in Nenagh, County Tipperary. Her uncle, Mo ...
and novelist
Eugene McCabe
Eugene McCabe (7 July 1930 – 27 August 2020) was a Scots-born Irish novelist, short story writer, playwright, and television screenwriter. John Banville said McCabe was "in the first rank of contemporary Irish novelists'.
Biography
Born t ...
.
She has won five major awards for literature from the
Arts Council of Ireland
The Arts Council (sometimes called the Arts Council of Ireland; legally ga, An Chomhairle Ealaíon) is the independent "Irish government agency for developing the arts."
About
It was established in 1951 by the Government of Ireland, to encour ...
in 1990, 1995, 1999, 2005 and 2008.
Her poetry and fiction explore issues of sexuality, identity and the multifaceted lives of women through their role as mothers, daughters, and lovers. Her themes include the cathartic role of the outsider, political injustice and the nature of the erotic power to subvert and transfigure. She has won popular and international critical acclaim for her portrayal of romantic and erotic relationships between women and her subversive and tender view of the mother/daughter dynamic.
Bibliography
Poetry
* ''Kindling'' (London, Onlywomen Press, 1989)
* ''Moving into The Space Cleared by our Mothers'' (Salmon Poetry, 1991)
* ''The River That Carries Me'' (Salmon Poetry 1995)
* ''Like Joy in Season, Like Sorrow''. (Salmon Poetry, 2001)
* ''Perhaps the heart is Constant After All''. (Salmon Poetry, 2012)
* "To Air the Soul, Throw All the Windows Wide." (Salmon Poetry 2016) New and Selected Poetry.
* "Life Holds Its Breath. (Salmon Poetry 2022.)
Books, essays and short stories
* ''A Noise from the Woodshed: Short Stories'' (London, Onlywomen Press, 1989)
* ''Scarlet O'Hara'' (in the anthology ''In and Out of Time'') (London. Onlywomen Press, 1990)
* ''Biography of Desire'' (Dublin, Poolbeg 1997)
* ''A Glorious Day'' (The Faber Book Of Best New Irish Short Stories 2006–2007 By
David Marcus)
* ''The Lift Home'' (Virgins and Hyacinths, Ed. Caroline Walsh.1993.)
* ''The Orphan; (In Sunshine or in Shadow)'' Ed. Mary Maher. 1999.
* " The Fate of Aoife and the Children of Lir" Feminist Faery Tales. ed. Maeve Binchy.
* "Adrienne." 'Queer Whispers' anthology ed. Paul McVeigh.
Staged dramatisations
* ''In the Pink'' (The Raving Beauties)
* ''Sunny Side Plucked'' (Dublin, Project Arts Centre)
See also
*
Lesbian Poetry
References
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorcey, Mary
1950 births
Living people
Aosdána members
Irish women short story writers
Irish women poets
Lesbian poets
Irish LGBT novelists
20th-century Irish novelists
21st-century Irish novelists
Lesbian novelists
Irish women novelists
20th-century Irish women writers
21st-century Irish women writers
20th-century Irish short story writers
21st-century Irish short story writers
Alumni of the Open University
20th-century Irish poets
21st-century Irish poets