Theo Dorgan is an Irish poet, writer and lecturer, translator,

librettist A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major ...

and documentary screenwriter. He lives in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Life

Dorgan was born in Cork in 1953 being the second child born into a family of eight boys and eight girls to parents Bertie and Rosemary Dorgan, and was educated in

North Monastery The North Monastery ( Irish: ''An Mhainistir Thuaidh''), commonly known as The Mon, is a co-educational education campus comprising Scoil Mhuire Fatima Primary School, North Monastery Co-educational Secondary and Gaelcholáiste Mhuire AG, loca ...

School. He completed a BA in English and philosophy and a MA in English at

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) () is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Universit ...

, after which he tutored and lectured at that university, while simultaneously being literature officer at the Triskel Arts Centre in Cork. He was visiting faculty at the University of Southern Maine. He lives in Dublin with his partner, the poet and playwright Paula Meehan.

Career

After Dorgan's first two poetry collections, ''The Ordinary House of Love'' and ''Rosa Mundi'', went out of print, Dedalus Press reissued these two titles in a single volume ''What This Earth Cost Us''. He has also published selected poems in Italian, ''La Case ai Margini del Mundo'', (Faenza, Moby Dick, 1999). He has edited '' The Great Book of Ireland'' (with Gene Lambert, 1991); ''Revising the Rising'' (with Máirín Ní Dhonnachadha, 1991); ''Irish Poetry Since Kavanagh'' (Dublin, Four Courts Press, 1996); ''Watching the River Flow'' (with Noel Duffy, Dublin, Poetry Ireland/Éigse Éireann, 1999); ''The Great Book of Gaelic'' (with Malcolm Maclean, Edinburgh, Canongate, 2002); and ''The Book of Uncommon Prayer'' (Dublin, Penguin Ireland, 2007). He has been the series editor of the European Poetry Translation Network publications and director of the collective translation seminars from which the books arose. A former director of Poetry Ireland (), Dorgan has worked as a broadcaster of literary programmes on both radio and television. He was the presenter of ''Poetry Now'' on

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

Radio 1, and later for RTÉ Television's books programme, ''Imprint''. He was the scriptwriter for the television documentary series ''Hidden Treasures''. His ''Jason and the Argonauts'', set to music by

Howard Goodall Howard Lindsay Goodall (; born 26 May 1958) is an English composer of musicals, choral music and music for television. He also presents music-based programmes for television and radio, for which he has won many awards. In May 2008, he was name ...

, was commissioned by and premiered at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

in London in 2004. A series of text pieces by Dorgan feature in the dance musical ''

Riverdance ''Riverdance'' is a theatrical show that consists mainly of traditional Irish music and dance. With a score composed by Bill Whelan, it originated as an interval act during the Eurovision Song Contest 1994, featuring Irish dancing champions J ...

''; he was specially commissioned to create them for the theatrical show. His songs have been recorded by a number of musicians, including Alan Stivell, Jimmy Crowley and Cormac Breathnach.

Awards and recognition

Dorgan was awarded the Listowel Prize for Poetry in 1992 and the O'Shaughnessy Prize for Irish Poetry in 2010. A member of Aosdána, he was appointed as a member of the

Arts Council An arts council is a government or private non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts; mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing arts events. They often operate at arms-length from the government to prevent pol ...

() from 2003 to 2008. He also served on the board of Cork

European Capital of Culture A European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union (EU) for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong pan-European dimension. Being a European Capital of Culture can ...

2005. He was awarded the 2015 Poetry Now Award for ''Nine Bright Shiners''.

Works

Poetry

* ''The ordinary house of love'', Salmon Pub., 1990, * ''Rosa Mundi'', Salmon poetry, 1995, * ''La casa ai margini del mondo.'', Translated by M. Giosa, Mobydick, 1998, * ''Sappho's Daughter'', Wave Train Press, 1998, * ''La Hija de Safo'', Translated by Francisco Castaño, Hiperión Ediciones, 2001, * ''What This Earth Cost Us'', Dedalus Press, 2008, * ''Greek'', Dedalus Press, 2010, * ''Making Way'', New Island Books, 2013, * ''Nine Bright Shiners'', Dedalus Press, 2014, * ''Orpheus'', Dedalus Press, 2018, * ''Bailéid Giofógacha'', Coiscéim, 2019

Non-fiction

* ''Sailing for home: a voyage from Antigua to Kinsale'', Penguin Ireland, 2004; Penguin Ireland, 2005, ; Dedalus Press, 2010, * ''Time on the Ocean: A Voyage From Cape Horn to Cape Town'', New Island Books, 2010, ;Editor * * ''Preghiere non-comuni,'' Armenia (1 January 2009)

Translations

* ''Songs of earth and light'', Barbara Korun, Southword Editions, 2005,

References

Sources

* William Stewart, Steven Barfield, ''British and Irish poets: a biographical dictionary, 449–2006'', McFarland, 2007,

External links

Dirgan's official website

Entry for Dorgan on the Aosdána web page

Dedalus Press author page

Poem by Theo Dorgan in Magma

Nothing Rhymes
''Broadsheet'', 7 August 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Dorgan, Theo Irish poets Living people Aosdána members Writers from Dublin (city) 20th-century Irish writers 20th-century Irish male writers 21st-century Irish writers 21st-century Irish male writers Alumni of University College Cork 1953 births