Mahon, Derek

(1941- )

   Born in Belfast-he now lives in Dublin-he was educated at the Royal Academical Institution and Trinity College, Dublin. In the 1960s, as one of the Northern Poets, he was associated with Seamus Heaney and Michael Longley (see entries). He has worked as a screenwriter, theatre critic, poetry editor, and features editor for Vogue; he contributes regularly to the Irish Times. In a survey conducted by the Irish Times in 1999, he was among the ten most popular writers (living and dead) in Ireland. He has received several major honors in Ireland and America, including a Lannan Foundation Award. He has translated several major poets and his screenplay Summer Lightning (based on Ivan Turgenev's First Love) was broadcast on Channel 4, 1985. Some of his other publications: Night-Crossing, 1968. The Snow Party, 1975. Courtyards in Delft, 1981. The Hunt By Night, 1982. The Yaddo Letter, 1992. The Yellow Book, 1997. The Hudson Letter, 1996. Harbour Lights, 2005. Some of his poems: "After the Titanic," "Afterlives," "Autobiographies," "Dawn at Saint Patrick's," "No Rest for the Wicked," "St. Patrick's Day," "Stanzas for Mary Stuart."

   Sources: Biography of Derek Mahon (http://www.irishwriters-online.com/derekmahon.html). Collected Poems of Derek Mahon. The Gallery Press, 1999. Selected Poems of Derek Mahon. Viking, 1991. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. The Works of Derek Mahon (http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0901434.html).