Duhig, Ian

(1954- )

   Born in London of Irish parents, Duhig was educated at Catholic schools which he left at sixteen. After several years of menial and manual work, he took exams at night school and went to Leeds University. After that he worked with homeless people for fifteen years in projects in London, Yorkshire and Northern Ireland until his job was made redundant. Since then he has taught and written in whatever combinations made him a living. While involved in social work, he encouraged people, whether homeless or suffering from addiction, to help themselves through poetry. He made recording of his poetry at the Audio Workshop, London, which was produced by Richard Carrington in 2003. He has won the National Poetry Competition twice, and also the Forward Prize for Best Poem. His poetry publications: The Bradford Count, 1991. The Mersey Goldfish. Nominies, 1994 and 1998. The Lammas Hireling, 2003. Some of his poems: "Clare's Jig," "Fred," "From the Irish," "I Prayed to the Ghost of Carrie," "Margin Prayer from an Ancient Psalter," "No Derry Slubberdegullion with College Airs," "The First Second," "The Frog."

   Sources: Modern Irish Poetry. Patrick Crotty, ed. The Blackstaff Press, 1995. New Blood, Neil Astley, ed. Bloodaxe Books, 1999. The Bloodaxe Book of 20th Century Poetry, from Britain and Ireland. Edna Longley, ed. Bloodaxe Books, 2000. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers. org). The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.