About The Authors

John F. Deane was born in 1943 on Achill Island, Co Mayo. He is the author of two novels and thirteen collections of poems, most recently Snow Falling on Chestnut Hill: New and Selected Poems (2012), Semibreve (2015), Dear Pilgrims (2018) and Naming of the Bones (2021), all from Carcanet Press. He is also the author of a memoir, Give Dust a Tongue (Columba, 2015). He was President of the European Academy of Poetry and was made Chevalier en l’ordre des arts et des lettres by the French Government. In 1979, he founded Poetry Ireland, the national poetry organization, and Poetry Ireland Review. He is a member of Aosdána, and divides his time between Dublin and Leitrim.

James Harpur was born in 1956 in England and studied Classics and English at Trinity College, University of Cambridge. His poetry books include The Oratory of Light (Wild Goose, 2021), poems inspired by St Columba and Iona; The White Silhouette (Carcanet Press, 2018); Angels and Harvesters (Carcanet Press, 2012); The Dark Age (Carcanet Press, 2007); and The Gospel of Joseph of Arimathea (Wild Goose, 2007). Other books include The Pathless Country (Cinnamon Press, 2021), his debut novel; and Love Burning in the Soul (New Seeds, 2005), a history of Christian mysticism. He is a member of Aosdána and lives in West Cork.