Gerry Smyth

Gerry Smyth (14 September 1961) is an academic and musician from Dublin, Ireland. He works in the Department of English at Liverpool John Moores University. His early publications were mainly in the field of Irish literature, although since 2002 he has been writing almost exclusively on music. Smyth was an early advocate of postcolonial criticism in Irish Studies, although more recently he has been keen to emphasise the autobiographical dimension of critical discourse. "Decolonisation and Criticism" won the American Conference for Irish Studies’ Michael J. Durkan Prize for best book published in literary criticism, arts criticism or cultural studies in 1999. "Beautiful Day: Forty Years of Irish Rock" (co-authored with Sean Campbell) was launched in the Clarence Hotel in Dublin in September 2005. "Our House: The Representation of Domestic Space in Contemporary Culture" (co-edited with Jo Croft) was launched at the Tate Liverpool in September 2006. Smyth has lectured all over Europe on various aspects of Irish culture. In September / October 2006 he was Academic-in-Residence at the Princess Grace Irish Library in Monaco. As a schoolboy Smyth showed enornmous promise as a footballer and contemporary observers were convinced he could have become a professional.

Major publications: "The Novel and the Nation: Studies in the New Irish Fiction" (London: Pluto Press, 1997) "Decolonisation and Criticism: The Construction of Irish Literature" (London: Pluto Press, 1998) "Explorations in Cultural History" (with T.G. Ashplant) (London: Pluto Press, 2000) "Space and the Irish Cultural Imagination" (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave, 2001) Across the Margins: Cultural Identity and Change in the Atlantic Archipelago (co-edited with Glenda Norquay) (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002) (ed.) "Music in Contemporary Ireland: A Special Edition of the Irish Studies Review" 12.1 (April 2004), 137pp "Noisy Island: A Short History of Irish Popular Music" (Cork: Cork University Press, 2005) "Beautiful Day: Forty Years of Irish Rock" (with Sean Campbell) (Cork: Atrium Press, 2005) "Our House: The Representation of Domestic Space in Contemporary Culture" (co-edited with Jo Croft) (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2006)

Smyth has also released two albums of progressive folk music: "The Colour Tree" (2003) and "riverrun" (2005).