Conleth O'Connor
{{Short description|Irish poet (1947–1993)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=February 2022}}
{{Infobox writer
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| name = Conleth O'Connor
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| birth_date = 1947
| birth_place = Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland
| death_date = 1993 (age 45)
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| occupation = Poet
| language =English
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| spouse = Frances
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| children = 1
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| years_active = 1976–1993
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Conleth O'Connor (1947–1993) was an Irish poet.{{Cite web|url=https://poetrybusiness.co.uk/product/the-north-21/|title=The North – 21|website=The Poetry Business}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.ricorso.net/rx/az-data/authors/o/OConnor_C1/life.htm|title=Conleth O'Connor|website=www.ricorso.net}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/an-enthralling-companion-1.504422|title=An enthralling companion|newspaper=The Irish Times}}{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/the-christmas-when-poetry-reached-finglas-26246448.html|title=The Christmas when poetry reached Finglas|website=Independent.ie|access-date=10 February 2022}}
Early life
O'Connor was born in 1947.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iDJdDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22some+fugitive%22&pg=PA810|title=Macmillan Dictionary of Irish Literature|first=Robert|last=Hogan|date=12 January 2016|publisher=Macmillan International Higher Education|isbn=9781349077953|via=Google Books}} His family were from Dún Laoghaire, but he grew up in Camolin, County Wexford.
Career
O'Connor published four collections of poetry and was elected to Aosdána, an elite association of Irish artists, serving as Toscaire (co-leader) in 1990.{{Cite web|url=https://www.artscouncil.ie/uploadedFiles/Main_Site/Content/Research_and_Publications/All/An_Chomhairle_Ealaion_1990.pdf|title=The Arts Council Annual Report 1990}} He worked at the Irish Writers Centre and Irish Writers Union. He contributed to The Great Book of Ireland and died in 1993.{{Cite news |title=Sour grapes, low spirits |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/sour-grapes-low-spirits-1.41076 |access-date=2023-08-28 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en}}
He most admired Samuel Beckett, Paul Celan and Miroslav Holub.{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/25577506|title=Conleth O'Connor: An Appreciation|author=Casey, Philip|year=1993|journal=The Poetry Ireland Review|issue=38|jstor=25577506}}
Anthony Cronin described O'Connor as "one of Ireland's most distinctive and experimental poets until his premature death in 1993, dissecting the realities of modern Irish life."{{Cite web|url=https://www.arcpublications.co.uk/books/conleth-oconnor-nights-without-stars-days-without-sun-188|title=Arc Publications – Books|website=www.arcpublications.co.uk}} Anne Haverty wrote a poem in his honour in a 1997 issue of Books Ireland, "Death's Gift."{{Cite web|url=https://af.booksc.eu/book/27425114/4e8629|title=Death's Gift: In Memory of Conleth O'Connor | Anne Haverty | download|website=af.booksc.eu}}
Bibliography
=Poetry=
- Trinities (1976){{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zFIIAQAAIAAJ|title=Trinities: A Collection of Poems|first=Conleth|last=O'Connor|date=9 February 1976|publisher=Profile Press|via=Google Books}}{{Cite book|url=https://www.kennys.ie/poetry/trinities-a-collection-of-poems-1|title=Trinities: A Collection of Poems|via=www.kennys.ie}}
- The Judas Cry (1979){{cite web|url=https://www.rarebooks.ie/books/literature/the-judas-cry/|title=The Judas Cry – Ulysses Rare Books|website=rarebooks.ie|access-date=10 February 2022}}
- Behind the Garden Gnomes (1982){{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CPFEAwAAQBAJ&dq=%22garden+gnomes%22+oconnor&pg=PA213|title=Medbh McGuckian|first=Borbála|last=Faragó|date=27 March 2014|publisher=Bucknell University Press|isbn=9781611485646|via=Google Books}}
- A Corpse Auditions Its Mourners: New and Selected Poems (1987){{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wipXAAAAYAAJ|title=A Corpse Auditions Its Mourners|first=Conleth|last=O'Connor|date=9 February 1987|publisher=Raven Arts Press|isbn=9781851860180|via=Google Books}}
- Nights without Stars, Days Without Sun: Selected Poems (1997; posthumous){{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aWQhAQAAIAAJ|title=Nights Without Stars, Days Without Sun|first=Conleth|last=O'Connor|date=9 February 1997|publisher=Arc Publications|isbn=9781900072052|via=Google Books}}
=Plays=
- The Re-Incarnation of Mr. Dogsbody{{Cite web|url=http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsO/o-connor-conleth.php|title=Conleth O'Connor – Playwright|website=www.doollee.com}}
- Two Letters and Overtime{{Cite web|url=http://aosdana.artscouncil.ie/members/oconnor-3/|title=Aosdána|website=aosdana.artscouncil.ie}}
Personal life
O'Connor was married to Frances, a ceramicist; they had one child, Breffni. He was a close friend of the writer Dermot Bolger.{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/it-isn-t-the-despair-that-gets-to-me-it-s-the-hope-1.561986|title="It isn't the despair that gets to me, it's the hope"|newspaper=The Irish Times}}