Derry O'Sullivan

Derry O'Sullivan
Portrait of Derry O`Sullivan by Reginald Gray, Paris, 2002
Born	Bantry, Co. Cork, Ireland
Occupation	Poet, professor
Language	Irish/French/English
Nationality	Irish

Derry O'Sullivan, born in 1944 in Bantry, Co. Cork, Ireland, is an Irish poet living in Paris, France.

His poetry collections in the Irish language are: "Cá bhfuil do Iudás?" (Dublin, Coiscéim, 1987) - winner of four Oireachtas Literary prizes and the Seán Ó Ríordáin Memorial Prize; "Cá bhfuil Tiarna Talún l’Univers?" (Dublin, Coiscéim, 1994); "An Lá go dTáinig Siad" (Dublin, Coiscéim, 2005), a long poem about the Nazi occupation of Paris, and "An bhfuil cead agam dul amach, más é do thoil é?" (Dublin, Coiscéim, 2009). He has participated in literary festivals in Ireland, France, the US and Canada and his work has been published in numerous literary reviews and anthologies.

O'Sullivan's poems have been translated into English and French and several of them can be consulted on the Harvard Library Hollis catalogue. His work appears in English translation in "The King’s English" (Paris, First Impressions, 1987). "En Mal de Fleurs" (Québec, Lèvres Urbaines 1988) is a suite of poems written directly in French.

An English translation by Kaarina Hollo of O'Sullivan's poem Marbhghin 1943: Glaoch ar Liombo (Stillborn 1943: Calling Limbo) won the 2012 Times Stephen Spender Prize for poetry translation, a competition open to poems in all languages and from all periods of history.

O'Sullivan made the first direct translation of the medieval Irish poem "Cailleach Béara" (The Hag of Beare) into French (in collaboration with Jean-Yves Bériou and Martine Joulia) as "La Vieille Femme de Beare", a hand-printed Irish/French bilingual edition (Paris, 1992, 1995); revised in 2006 (Éditions de l'Escampette).

A former priest, O'Sullivan is married and has three children. He has taught English at the Sorbonne (University of Paris), the Institut Catholique de Paris (The Catholic University of Paris) and the Institut Supérieur d’Electronique de Paris. He is a senior examiner for the International Baccalauréate. Among other projects he co-founded the annual Festival Franco-Anglais de Poésie.

O’Sullivan frequently collaborates with artists. "Ceamara/Camera" is a bilingual Irish/English poem in a hand-printed, limited-edition art book by Kate Van Houten (Estepa Editions, Paris 2010); "Saorganach/En affranchi à faux" is a bilingual French/Irish poem illustrated by Valerie Vahey in a hand-printed, limited-edition boxed set, “Poésie et Gravure" (Ateliers Bo Halbirk, 2012). O’Sullivan was commissioned by the PayneShurvell gallery to write an interpretation of Rudolf Reiber's Suspiria (2012) as part of the first solo exhibition in London of the German artist. He has also collaborated (in Latin) with the Mexican artist Guillermo Arizta.

O'Sullivan is a familiar figure in the Bastille area in the 11th arrondissement of Paris where he does his writing at café terraces, fuelled by cigarettes and expresso coffees.

References

• "The Cambridge History of Irish Literature", Volume 2 , page 349. published 2006: "A shortlist of the most notable among the (re)emergent voices (in contemporary Irish language poetry) might include... Derry O'Sullivan. O'Sullivan's technical ingenuity and agitated intelligence are such that they constantly threaten to outrun his linguistic ability; his elegy for a stillborn child, 'Marbhghin: Glaoch ar Liombo', is one of the most achingly beautiful Irish poems of the twentieth century."
• Poetry Ireland Review, Number 102: "O'Sullivan's language has tremendous range and one would suspect that if Irish were to become a language of Paris it might be spoken as O'Sullivan writes it."

External links

• Profile of Derry O'Sullivan by Conor Power in The Sunday Times, 2 December 2012
• Derry O'Sullivan at Irish Writers Online
• Derry O'Sullivan at the National Library of Ireland
• Paris-based Irish Poet writes about Nazi Victims
• O'Sullivan reads his interpretation of Rudolf Reiber's Suspiria (PayneShurvell Gallery London, 25 May- 30 June 2012).