John F. Deane, Irish Poet and
Fiction Writer
Fiction Writer
Born Achill Island 1943; founded Poetry Ireland - the National Poetry Society - and The
Poetry Ireland Review, 1979; Published several collections of poetry and some fiction; Won
the O’Shaughnessy Award for Irish Poetry, the Marten Toonder Award for Literature and
poetry prizes from Italy and Romania. Elected Secretary-General of the European
Academy of Poetry in 1996. Shortlisted for both the T.S.Eliot prize and The Irish Times
Poetry Now Award, won residencies in Bavaria, Monaco and Paris. Latest poetry collection
“The Instruments of Art”, Carcanet 2005; “In Dogged Loyalty”, essays on religious poetry,
Columba 2006; latest fiction “The Heather Fields and Other Stories,” Blackstaff Press 2007.
His latest poetry collection, “A Little Book of Hours”, came from Carcanet in 2008. He is a
member of Aosdána, the body established by the Arts Council to honour artists “whose
work had made an outstanding contribution to the arts in Ireland”. In 2007 the French
Government honoured him by making him “Chevalier de l’ordre des arts et des lettres”.
In 2008 John F. Deane was visiting scholar in the Burns Library of Boston College. 2010
sees the publication of a new novel, "Where No Storms Come", and a new collection of
essays, "The Works of Love". His new collection of poems, "The Eye of the Hare" came
from Carcanet in June of 2011.
Poetry Ireland Review, 1979; Published several collections of poetry and some fiction; Won
the O’Shaughnessy Award for Irish Poetry, the Marten Toonder Award for Literature and
poetry prizes from Italy and Romania. Elected Secretary-General of the European
Academy of Poetry in 1996. Shortlisted for both the T.S.Eliot prize and The Irish Times
Poetry Now Award, won residencies in Bavaria, Monaco and Paris. Latest poetry collection
“The Instruments of Art”, Carcanet 2005; “In Dogged Loyalty”, essays on religious poetry,
Columba 2006; latest fiction “The Heather Fields and Other Stories,” Blackstaff Press 2007.
His latest poetry collection, “A Little Book of Hours”, came from Carcanet in 2008. He is a
member of Aosdána, the body established by the Arts Council to honour artists “whose
work had made an outstanding contribution to the arts in Ireland”. In 2007 the French
Government honoured him by making him “Chevalier de l’ordre des arts et des lettres”.
In 2008 John F. Deane was visiting scholar in the Burns Library of Boston College. 2010
sees the publication of a new novel, "Where No Storms Come", and a new collection of
essays, "The Works of Love". His new collection of poems, "The Eye of the Hare" came
from Carcanet in June of 2011.
Contact:
johnfmdeane@gmail.com
johnfmdeane@gmail.com
“Taut, fluent sequence, beautifully wrought poems” -- Times Literary Supplement.
“In Deane’s version of the Anglo-Saxon The Dream of the Rood, he uses a very effective mix of
alliterative metre and terza-rima to produce the finest version of Cynewulf’s poem that I have so far
come across. The collection ends with The Return, a longish autobiographical sequence which, with
the threnodic and beautiful When Giants Walked, impressed me as much as anything I have read in
recent months. This book (Christ, with Urban Fox) is well worth its modest price and I know that I
shall return to many of these poems for further and deeper readings.” -- Vernon Scannell, Ambit
Speaking of The Dream of the Rood in Christ, with Urban Fox: “Deane’s translation of the eighth-
century Anglo-Saxon visionary poem is at the heart of his book, and it is enormously impresssive, a
vigorous reconsecration in words of a famous but hitherto remote devotional work. Deane’s modern
English version of the Old English original makes it come alive with new relevance, in language fit to
compare with Pound’s translation of The Seafarer, offering nothing less than a mood shift to a starker
forgotten dimension of human experience” -- from World Literature Today.
“In Deane’s version of the Anglo-Saxon The Dream of the Rood, he uses a very effective mix of
alliterative metre and terza-rima to produce the finest version of Cynewulf’s poem that I have so far
come across. The collection ends with The Return, a longish autobiographical sequence which, with
the threnodic and beautiful When Giants Walked, impressed me as much as anything I have read in
recent months. This book (Christ, with Urban Fox) is well worth its modest price and I know that I
shall return to many of these poems for further and deeper readings.” -- Vernon Scannell, Ambit
Speaking of The Dream of the Rood in Christ, with Urban Fox: “Deane’s translation of the eighth-
century Anglo-Saxon visionary poem is at the heart of his book, and it is enormously impresssive, a
vigorous reconsecration in words of a famous but hitherto remote devotional work. Deane’s modern
English version of the Old English original makes it come alive with new relevance, in language fit to
compare with Pound’s translation of The Seafarer, offering nothing less than a mood shift to a starker
forgotten dimension of human experience” -- from World Literature Today.
| Visit This Page to view a Rogues' Gallery of poets and friends |
| Updated 7 January New Poem Online Review of "The Works of Love" Photographs Death of a Brother 2010 Special Photograph New Collection Published: June 2011 |
| Poems of John F. Deane have been translated and published, in book form, in Italy, Bulgaria, France, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Hungary, Romania |
Go here to see photos of the Serbian prize, The
Golden Key of Smederevo, and the Laudomia
Bonanni prize from L'Aquila, in Italy, both of
them awarded to John F. Deane in October 2011
Golden Key of Smederevo, and the Laudomia
Bonanni prize from L'Aquila, in Italy, both of
them awarded to John F. Deane in October 2011
| John F Deane's New Collection is announced for October 2012: "Snow Falling on Chestnut Hill: New & Selected Poems", selected and introduced by Thomas Dillon Redshaw. from Carcanet |