Paulin, Thomas Neilson

(1949- )

   Irish poet, born in Leeds, Yorkshire, and raised in Belfast, where his father was headmaster of a grammar school and his mother was a doctor. He was educated at Hull University and Lincoln College, Oxford. His career: lecturer in English at Nottingham University, 1972-1989; director of Field Day Theatre Company in Derry, Northern Ireland, 1989-1994; G.M. Young Lecturer in English at Oxford, 1994 to the present; and fellow of Hertford College, Oxford, 1994 to the present. He holds honorary degrees from Saskatchewan, Stafford and Hull. In 2002, an invitation to speak at Harvard University was withdrawn (later reinstated) "after he allegedly made anti-Israeli comments" (BBC News, Friday, 15 November 2002). He has won three literary awards and was short-listed for two others. He has written non-fiction, edited poetry anthologies and written several plays. Some of his recent poetry publications: The Argument at Great Tew: A Poem, 1985. Fivemiletown, 1987. Selected Poems 1972-1990, 1993. Thomas Hardy: Poems Selected by Tom Paulin, 2001. Some of his poems: "Ballywaire," "Evening Harbour," "Inishkeel Parish Church," "Off the Back of a Lorry," "Thinking of Iceland."

   Sources: Anthology of Magazine Verse and Yearbook of American Poetry. Alan F. Pater, ed. Monitor Book Company, 1980. British Council Arts (http://www.contemporarywriters.com). Harvard University's Withdrawal of a Speaking Invitation to the Poet Tom Paulin (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/newsmakers/2481623. stm). The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). 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 Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. The Penguin Book of Contemporary Irish Poetry. Peter Fallon and Derek Mahon, eds. Penguin Books, 1990. Who's Who. London: A & C Black, 2005.