Seán Dunne (poet)

Seán Dunne (1956-1995) was a poet born in Waterford, Ireland.

Career

Dunne edited several anthologies, beginning with "The Poets of Munster" (1985) and finishing with the "Ireland Anthology" which was completed posthumously by George O'Brien and his partner Trish Edelstein. He released 3 collections of poems. Seán Dunne's collections of poems have all been well received, and in order of release are: "Against the Storm" (1985), "The Sheltered Nest" (1992) and "Time and the Island". The account of his childhood "In My Father's House" was released in 1991, and was a bestseller.

Life

Seán Dunne's father was Richard Dunne. His mother died when Seán was four, in 1960. "In My Father's House" Anna Livia Press Ltd, 1991] Dunne attended Mount Sion primary and secondary schools in Waterford city where he wrote for the school magazine. He attended University College Cork (UCC) where he was taught by Sean Lucy and John Montague and was part of a stream of talent issuing from the university in that period, which included Maurice Riordan, Gregory O'Donoghue, Theo Dorgan, Thomas McCarthy, William Wall, Gerry Murphy, Greg Delanty and others. He was active in student politics, as detailed in his memoir The Road to Silence.

After college Dunne settled in Cork where he worked in the city library and continued to write and publish poems. Around this time he began to make a living from freelance journalism. Soon he joined the Cork Examiner daily newspaper where he became a prominent columnist.

Dunne died young on 3 August 1995"Time And The Island" The Gallery Press, 1996] "Striken Blackbird" article - The Irish Times Weekend Review, Saturday January 28, 2006] of a heart problem. In 1996 Waterford City Council inaugurated the Sean Dunne literary festival in his honour.

References