Desmond Egan, Poet, Artistic Director

Use our new super Google Search Engine to explore all parts of
the Gerard Manley Hopkins Archive. Just enter keywords, names,quotes etc

 

Desmond Egan Artistic Director

The Gerard Manley Hopkins International Literary Festival

- an annual feast of Poetry, Music, Art and friendship since 1987

Irish Poet, Desmond Egan with Richard O'Rourke, founded The Hopkins International Literary Festival in 1987. Ever since, Egan has been Artistic Director for the School. A feast of poetry,music and fun. All welcome!

Desmond Egan Poet

Eighteen collections of his poetry and one of Prose have been published from 1972 to 2004.

Collections of his poetry, in translation, have appeared in France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Poland, Luxembourg, Spain, Czech Republic, Hungary, Russia, Bulgaria, Japan - nearly all, in dual-language format.

Two critical works on his Poetry have been published by leading scholars Hugh Kenner and Brian Arkins. Two more are in preparation.

Desmond Egan is full-time Irish poet, living in Ireland. To date, he has 18 Collections of his Poetry published.

Irish poet Desmond Egan's poem, PEACE

poem, was translated into 21 languages, part of a celebration of Peace for the Millennium.

About Desmond Egan

Desmond conducts Workshops and gives Readings of his work
to Creative Writing groups and Universities all over Europe and in the
USA. Get an overview of his work here together with reactions both to
his Readings and Workshops.

See entry in The Encyclopaedia of Ireland Awards (p. 345;
pub. Gill & MAcmillan 2003)

 

Desmond Egan: Prizes and Awards

National Poetry Foundation of USA Award, 1983
Chicago Haymarket Literary Award, 1987
The Farrell Prize, 1988
Osaka University (Japan) Citation, 1986
Pilgrims Progress Prize, 1983
The Bolgna Literary Award, 1988
Macedonian Poetry Award, 2004
Honorary Doctorate: Washburn University, USA, 1996.
Macedonian Poetry Prize, 2004
Prix de Livre Insulaire 2005, Salon International de Livre Insulaire île d'Oeussant, Bretagne

Two Documentary Films on Desmond Egan Poetry

Desmond Egan: Through the Eyes of a Poet

This documentary has a section on The GM Hopkins International Summer School. It also features a selection of Egan's finest poetry performed exclusively for this programme.

Beautiful images and sounds of Ireland act as a backdrop to this entertaining and stimulating video built around an Irish poet.

Dual-language Multimedia Presentation DESpectrum (2002)

A multimedia presentation of the poetry of Desmond Egan in Czech and English. Music was commissioned and composed by Jan Hruby. Translations were by Ivana Bozdechova. Readings in Czech by Jan Poetmesil and Tomas Karger. Desmond Egan reads his poems in English.

Biographical Note on Irish poet, Desmond Egan

DESMOND EGAN was born in Athlone, in the centre of Ireland. Educated in Irish Midlands; in The National Universities of Ireland at Maynooth and Dublin.Desmond works full-time as a poet.

1983: Egan received The National Poetry foundation of USA Award.1987, Desmond was the First Poet-in-Residence at University College, Dublin.

1988, He was Poet-in-Residence at Kansai University, Japan1997: Egan was conferred with a Doctorate of Letters at Washburn University, Kansas, USA.1998: His poems, translated into Italian, were awarded The Bologna Prize.

Since 1987 Desmond Egan is a full-time writer, living near Newbridge, Co. Kildare.
1998, he was appointed to The Cultural Relations Committee of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs

2004: Awarded the Macedonian Poetry Prize.

2005: Prix de Livre Insulaire 2005

What people say about Desmond Egan

Incontestably the most brilliant of all the writers who have taken workshops in Irish literary festivals, Egan's commitment to his students is legendary and his improvisational skills have power to stun the
budding writer.
The Irish Literary Supplement, Spring 1986

An eloquent and enchanting reading which was the highlight of our Lyceum series.
J. M. Tschiderer Activities Program Advisor, Univ. Southern Florida

Desmond Egan is not only a superb poet but one of the finest readers around. He is also a marvelous teacher and establishes an easy rapport with students in a classroom situation.
Prof. Russell Murphy, Department of English, University of Arkansas

We had our largest turnout and a number of people stated that it was our best program in years.
Gary Holloway, President Irish Lit./Hist. Soc. S.F.

Hear Desmond Egan read his Peace poem at International Festival

Peace Poem -- translated into 28 languages for Millennium Year

Hugh Kenner's assessment of Egan's Poetry

Desmond Egan, a Bibliography

Egan's ELEGIES reviewed

Desmond Egan on Hopkins's Poetry

Desmond Egan analysis of As Kingfishers catch Fire

Search the Gerard Manley Hopkins Website
Gerard Manley Hopkins International Literary Festival since 1987