Dermot Bolger wins the 2021 Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Poetry Award

Dermot Bolger is the winner of the 2021 Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Poetry Award, awarded by St Thomas University of Minnesota, USA.

The poet, playwright and novelist is one of Ireland’s best known writers, and has published nine collections of poetry, including That Which Is Suddenly Precious in 2015.

The award, established in 1997 is named after Lawrence O’Shaughnessy, who taught English at St. Thomas in the late 1940s. The $5,000 Award honours Irish poets, and previous recipients include Paula Meehan, Eavan Boland, and Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh.

Dermot Bolger has written fourteen novels, including The Lonely Sea and Sky, and most recently, An Ark of Light. A member of Aosdána, his first play, The Lament for Arthur Cleary, won the Samuel Beckett Award for best debut play in the UK.

At 18, Bolger founded Raven Arts Press which published luminaries such as Patrick McCabe, Philip Casey, Rosita Boland and Colm Tóibín.

In 1992 he co-founded New Island Books, releasing landmark books like Are You Somebody? by Nuala O’Faolain and Suffer the Little Children by Mary Raferty and Eoin O’Sullivan.

In late summer 2022, his new collection of poetry, Other People’s Lives, will be published by New Island.