Roy McFadden (14 November 1921 – 15 September 1999) was a Northern Irish poet, editor, and lawyer.
McFadden's first poem was published before he was thirteen. His earliest influences were from magazines and journals that his Father brought home, and by Palgrave's ''Golden Treasury''.
McFadden first came to prominence as a promoter of Ulster literature in the 1940s when he edited two anthologies of poetry, ''Ulster Voices'' and ''Irish Voices'' in 1943.
In 1948, McFadden co-founded with Barbara Edwards (née Hunter) the Northern Irish poetry magazine ''
Rann'' and, then, co-edited it with her during its whole run, until 1953. Like its predecessor ''Lagan'', it was unapologetically regionalist.
He was the author of nine volumes of poetry, from ''Swords and Ploughshares'' (1943) to the posthumously published ''Last Poems'' (2002). Among his poems are "Saint Francis and the Birds" and "Independence". His book, ''The Garryowen'', was published by
Chatto and Windus
Chatto & Windus is an imprint of Penguin Random House that was formerly an independent book publishing company founded in London in 1855 by John Camden Hotten. Following Hotten's death, the firm would reorganize under the names of his business ...
in the ''Phoenix Living Poets'' series. Most recently, his poem "Post-War" has been anthologised in ''Armistice: A Laureate's Choice of Poems of War and Peace'' (Faber Poetry) (2018). The was a long gap between 1947 and 1971 when he published no collections of his work, however he continued to write and published in periodicals and newspapers such as ''
The Irish Times'' where in that time he had sixty poems printed. His voice was well known on local BBC radio through the ''Poetry Notebooks'' series and he also had several verse-plays broadcast.
The Roy McFadden Papers, comprising the poet's personal manuscripts and papers, are lodged at
Queen's University Belfast
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The Roy McFadden Library, at
Trinity College Dublin, comprises books and journals on Irish and world literature from the poet's collection.
A comprehensive collection of Roy McFadden's published work is held at the
South Bank Poetry Library, London.
Personal life
He was born in
Downpatrick on 14 November 1921 to Roland Victor MCFadden and his wife Maud Steele.
A short time later the family relocated to
Belfast.
McFadden was educated at Knock Grammar School, Regent House, Newtownards,
and later graduated in Law from
Queen's University Queen's or Queens University may refer to:
*Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, Canada
*Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
**Queen's University of Belfast (UK Parliament constituency) (1918–1950)
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in 1944. He became a prominent lawyer and an influential figure in Belfast literary scene.
In 1952 McFadden married Margaret Ferguson. Together they produced three sons and two daughters.
He lived for a number of years in Lisburn, County Antrim.
Inspired by Herbert Read and Alex Comfort,
he described himself as a pacifist and an anarchist in 1999.
McFadden died at his Belfast home in 1999.
References
* ''Irish Poetry of Faith and Doubt: the cold heaven'', p. 187, ed. John F. Deane, Wolfhound Press, 1990.
External links
Interview with Roy McFaddenvia JSTOR
{{DEFAULTSORT:McFadden, Roy
1921 births
1999 deaths
20th-century Irish poets
20th-century male writers
Irish poets
20th-century poets from Northern Ireland
Irish magazine editors