Montague, John

(1929- )

   Born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of an exiled Ulster Catholic Irish volunteer who fled Ireland after involvement in ambushes and house-burning, John was sent to Ireland in 1933 to be raised by his aunts in Garvaghey (near Fivemiletown), County Tyrone. He was educated at St. Patrick's College, Armagh, and University College Dublin. In 1953, he left Ireland for Yale on a Fulbright Fellowship and returned in 1956 to work at the Irish Tourist Office, then was Paris correspondent for the Irish Times. He has taught in Berkeley, New York, Paris, and Ireland. In 1987, New York's governor, Mario Cuomo, presented Montague with a citation for his literary achievements and contributions to the people of New York, and in 1998 he was elected the first Ireland Professor of Poetry. Some of his poetry publications: Mount Eagle, 1989. The Love Poems, 1992. Time in Armagh, 1993. Collected Poems, 1995. Some of his poems: "A Chosen Light," "Border Sick Call," "Ó Riada's Farewell," "The Cave of Night," "The Dead Kingdom," "The Hag of Beare," "Time in Armagh," "Wild Sports of the West."

   Sources: Arts Council of Northern Ireland. Appointment of John Montague, on May 14, 1998, as the first Ireland Professor of Poetry. (http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/ jmaward.html). Bitter Harvest: An Anthology of Contemporary Irish Verse. John Montague, ed. Scribner's, 1989. The Book of Irish Verse: An Antholog y of Irish Poetry from the Sixth Century to the Present. John Montague, ed. Macmillan, 1974. John Montague-Poetry Irish culture and customs -World Cultures (http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/Poetry/Montague.html). Modern Irish Poetry. Patrick Crotty, ed. The Blackstaff Press, 1995. Poemhunter (www.poemhunter.com). The Book of Irish Verse: An Anthology of Irish Poetry from the Sixth Century to the Present. John Montague, ed. Macmillan, 1974. 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 Faber Book of Contemporary Irish Poetry. Paul Muldoon ed. Faber and Faber, 1986. The New Penguin Book of English Verse. Paul Keegan, ed. Penguin Books, 2000.