Thursday, January 10, 2008

New titles by Paddy Bushe and John Jordan



Greatly encouraged by our significant increase in support from the Arts Council towards this year's activities, Dedalus enters 2008 with a renewed bounce in our step and an existing list of new titles due over the next twelve months.

The year commences with the publication of two selected volumes: Paddy Bushe's To Ring in Silence: New and Selected Poems, with an introduction by Bernard O'Donoghue, and John Jordan's Selected Poems, edited and with an introduction by Hugh McFadden. These two substantial publications showcase our committment to the extended body of work by the poets on our list, at the same time as we continue to encourage individual collections and promote the work of newer writers. New books due over the course of the year include new collections by Mary Montague and Patrick Deeley, further selected volumes by Maurice Scully and Mark Roper and an anthology of contemporary songs, edited and introduced by Fintan Vallely.

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To Ring in Silence: Paddy Bushe

Of Paddy Bushe's To Ring in Silence, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill writes: "At last a book that showcases Paddy Bushe’s multifaceted poetic talent in both Irish and English. In it we see his intricate identifications with place and time, from a stern critique of Spenser and Ralegh at Smerwick to a wonderful evocation of Li Bai, the great poet of the T'ang dynasty. Section by section, the book builds up a huge metaphoric force until it leaves the reader almost punch-drunk, and all the better for that."


Selected Poems: John Jordan

John Jordan's Collected Poems was published by Dedalus in 1991, and this new, tighter selection, again by Hugh McFadden, offers a new generation of readers fresh access to the work. "John Jordan was conscious of the general sense of malaise that pervaded post-war Europe. Some of the poems from the 1960s and ’70s come close to expressing a sense of weltschmerz (universal sorrow)… [Others] are poems of pity and terror, and are truly haunting reflections on the nature of suffering, the mystery at the heart of forgiveness, and the question of redemption."

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THE LAUNCH

To Ring in Silence and Selected Poems will be launched on Monday 11th February 2008 at the Damer Hall, St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, @ 7.00pm.

Hugh McFadden will speak about and read from John Jordan's Selected Poems, and Theo Dorgan will introduce a reading from To Ring in Silence by Paddy Bushe.

All are welcome.

The event is hosted in association with by Poetry Ireland.