| Cathal Ó
Searcaigh is one of Ireland’s most distinguished modern day poets.
“His confident internationalism” according to Theo Dorgan,
“has already begun to channel new modes, new possibilities, into
the writing of Irish language poetry in our time” (Irish Poetry
Since
Kavanagh, 1996). Ó Searcaigh has become a poet of international
renown—particularly since the publication of his bilingual collections
Homecoming/An Bealach ‘na Bhaile
(Cló Iar-Chonnachta 1993) and Out in the
Open (CIC 1997). Selections of his work have already
been published in translation in ten languages. He was conferred with
an Honorary Degree from NUIG in 2000 and in 2001 he was
awarded The Irish Times Literature Prize for Irish Language Books for
Ag Tnúth leis an tSolas.
Cathal has read his work at arts festivals and literary celebrations throughout
the world. His readings and his talks at the L’Imaginaire
Irlandais festival in France and at the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany
gained him international acclaim. He has held various posts as Writer
in Residence in universities throughout Ireland—North and South—since
1993. In the spring of 1995, he was elected a member of Aosdána.
His collection Na Buachaillí Bána
(CIC 1996) has received more media coverage than any other volume
of verse published in the Irish
language in recent years. “The best poems in the collection,”
according to The Irish Times, “are exceptional and single Cathal
Ó Searcaigh
out, not so much as a maker of poems—of which the Irish language
has its fair share—but as one of our finest working poets. This
is not
meant as faint praise but as a statement of fact.”
Ó Searcaigh’s harrowing long poem Gort
na gCnámh/Field of Bones has been made into a highly acclaimed
film by Carol Moore. Cathal is
a regular contributor to radio and television programmes. His works include
a documentary on the Frankfurt Book Fair for RTÉ, a programme
on Nepal for TG4 and RTÉ, a documentary on the 18th century poets
of South East Ulster for Flying Fox Films and a half-hour interview
about his spiritual beliefs for Flying Fox. In 2002 CIC published Caiseal
na gCorr – a book of photographs of the area where Cathal is from.
The photographs are by the Dutch photographer Jan Voster and the book
includes interviews and poetry with Cathal, who discusses his
memories of the area and the influence that it had on his poetry. His
first major prose work, Seal i Neipeal, was published in 2004 and
describes his travels through Nepal and uncovers his growing love affair
with the country and its people. Cathal now spends several months
every year in Nepal and has an adopted son and grandson there. Gúrú
i gClúidíní (CIC 2007) is his latest work,
his first new poetry collection
in over six years. |
