When Then is Now

Brendan Kennelly is one of Ireland’s most distinguished and best loved poets, as well as a renowned teacher and cultural commentator. Born in 1936 in Ballylongford, Co. Kerry, he was Professor of Modern Literature at Trinity College, Dublin for over 30 years, and retired from teaching in 2005. He now lives in Listowel, Co. Kerry. He has published more than 30 books of poetry, including Familiar Strangers: New & Selected Poems 1960-2004 (2004), which includes the whole of his book-length poem The Man Made of Rain (1998). He is best-known for two controversial poetry books, Cromwell, published in Ireland in 1983 and in Britain by Bloodaxe in 1987, and his epic poem The Book of Judas (1991), which topped the Irish bestsellers list: a shorter version was published by Bloodaxe in 2002 as The Little Book of Judas. His third epic, Poetry My Arse (1995), did much to outdo these in notoriety. All these remain available separately from Bloodaxe, along with his more recent titles: Glimpses (2001), Martial Art (2003), Now (2006), Reservoir Voices (2009), The Essential Brendan Kennelly: Selected Poems, edited by Terence Brown and Michael Longley, with audio CD (2011), and Guff (2013). His Journey into Joy: Selected Prose, edited by Åke Persson, was published by Bloodaxe in 1994, along with Dark Fathers into Light, a critical anthology on his work edited by Richard Pine. John McDonagh’s critical study Brendan Kennelly: A Host of Ghosts was published in The Liffey Press’s Contemporary Irish Writers series in 2004.

THE TROJAN WOMEN: 'One of the most subversive manifestations of dramatic art that has been seen in recent times...subverts the original, which itself was subversive of societal norms in 415 BC, when it was first staged...ancient drama recrafted in contemporary terms about war and men and women, well worthy of the stage of any national theatre.' - Irish TimesMEDEA: 'Accessible, immediate, urgent...his language makes you feel the force of Medea's passions as closely and vividly as Euripides' audiences;' - Guardian'Marvellously achieved... delicately honed, full-bloodedly direct and timeless in its relevance.' - Irish IndependentANTIGONE: 'Brendan Kennelly's new version of Sophocles' Antigone is probably the most substantial Irish drama since W.B. Yeats was writing.' - Irish Times.