Life
1956- ; b. Mín A’Leá [Meenala], Gort a’Choirce
[Gortahork], in the Donegal Gaeltacht, son of farmer; ed. locally in
national and vocational schools; NIHE, Limerick (French, Irish, and Russian);
worked for a year in London; read Celtic Studies at Maynooth, 1977; joined
RTÉ, working on Aisling Gheal; contrib. to Comhar, Feasta,
and Scríobh; issued Tuirlingt (1978) with Gabriel
Rosenstock and Bill Doyle; returned to Gaeltacht to farm; poetry collections
include Miontraigéide Cathrach (1978); with Gabriel Rosenstock;
Súile Shuibhne (1983); Suíbhne (1987); An
Bealach 'na Bhaile (1991), followed by a bilingual edn. with translations
by thirteen poets including Seamus Heaney, John F. Deane, Greagóir
Ó Duill, and others (Bealach ’na Bhaile, 1993), winner
of Seán Ó Riordáin prize and Duais Bhord na Gaeilge;
writer in residence, University of Ulster at Coleraine, 1992-95; a play,
Tá an Tóin ag Titim as a tSaol [dir. Diarmaid de
Faoite; prod. An Culturlann 15-17 Dec.] (1994), Risteard Ó Riain,
constipated Irish playwright patronised by an tAthair Mac an tSagairt,
torn between his commitment to conservative Gaelgoir values and his bacchanalian
urgings; writer in residence, Galway, 1996- ; Na Buachaill Bána
(1996), a collection of homosexual love poems, including "Gort
na gCnámh" (dealing with a father-daughter rape and a dead
child), “The Pink Lily”, and other poems; Out in the Open
(1997), a bilingual edition, was published with translations by Frankie
Sewell, and includes a long poem on sexual abuse; frequent visited Katmandu (Nepal); hon. doct., Maynooth, 2000; issued selected
poems as Ag Tnúth leis an tSolas (2001), winner
of Irish Times Irish-Language Prize; issued Seal in Neípeal, memoir of journey in Nepal
(2003). FDA OCIL DIL2
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Works
Poetry, Miontraigéide Cathrach agus Dánta Eile
(Dublin: Cló Uí Chuirreáin 1975); with Gabriel
Rosenstock & Bill Doyle, Tuírlingt (Dublin: Carbad 1978);
Súile Shuibhne (Dublin: Coiscéim 1983); Suíbhne
(Dublin: Coiscéim 1987); An Bealach ’na Bhaile (Cló
Iar-Chonnachta Teo. 1991), also Gabriel Fitzmaurice, ed., An Bealach
’na Bhaile/Rogha Danta, intro. Lillis Ó Laoire (Indreabhán:
Cló Iar-Chonnachta Teo. 1993), 212pp. [selected poems with translations
by Seamus Heaney, John F. Deane & others]; Na Buachaill Bána
(Indreabhán: Cló Iar-Chonnachta 1996), 92pp.; Out
in the Open (Indreabhán: Cló Iar-Chonnachta 1997) [bilingual
collection]; Ag Tnúth leis an tSolas: 1975-2000
(Cló Iar-Chonnachta 2001), 303pp.; with Jan Voster, Caiseal
na gCorr (Indreabhán: Cló Iar-Chonnachta 2002);
Miscellaneous, ed., An Chéad Chló: Imleabhar a hAon (Cló Iar-Chonnavhata 1998), 78pp.; Seal i Neipeal (Cló lar Chonnachta 2003), 284pp., ill. [24 col. photos].
James Doan & Frank Sewell, eds., On the Side of Light: The Poetry of Cathal Ó Searchaigh (Galway: Arlen House 2003), 243pp. List of Illustrations [vii]; Abbreviations [viii]; Dedication [ix]; Acknowledgements [x]. Foreword: “An Tobar”: a poem by Cathal Ó Searcaigh [1]; “The Well”; trans. Frank Sewell [2]; “Uncovering A Well”: a poem by Mutsuo Takahashi trans. Mitsuko Ohno & Frank Sewell [4]. James Doan and Frank Sewell, Loosening the Tongue’ [5]; (as) Anseo Ag Stáisiún Chaiseal Na gCorr [11]; (from) Here at Caiseal na Ccorr Station [12]; Eoin Mac Cárthaigh, ‘Placing Cathal Ó Searcaigh [13]; (as) Oiche (from) Night [36]; Mitsuko Ohno, ‘In Female or Male Voice: What Difference Does it Make?’ [37]; “A Chavafy, A Chroí/To Constantin Cavafy” [56]; Frank Sewell, Between Staisiún Chaiseal na gCorr and Stantzia Zimá: The Poetry of Cathal Ó Searcaigh [57]; (as) “Laoi Cumainn” [87]; (from) “Hound of Ulster” [88]; James Doan, ‘Cathal Ó Searcaigh: Gay, Gaelach agus Galánta - Gay, Gaelic and Gorgeous’ [89]; (as) Buachaill Bán [105]; (from) Buachaill Bán [106]. Kieran Kennedy, ‘“Oirféeas as gach orifice”: The Irish Language Question, Globalization and Homosexuality’ [107]; (as) Gort na cCnámh [133] (from) Field of Bones [134]; Celia de Fréine, ‘What’s in a label?: An appraisal of the work of Cathal Ó Searcaigh [135]; (as) Is Glas Na Cnoic / (from) Faraway Hills [151]; Nobuaki Tochigi, ‘Cathal Ó Searcaigh: Transfiguring Representations of the Native [153]; (as) An Lilí Bhándearg / (from) The Pink Lily [166]; Brian Ó Conchubhair, ‘Cathal Ó Searcaigh: Teip agus Téagar na Teangan/Falling Down and Falling Back on Language’ [167]; (as) Cuisle an Chaoráin [205]; (from) Mountain Pulse [206]; Niall McGrath & Cathal Ó Searcaigh, ‘“Challenging our Conformities”: Cathal Ó Searcaigh in conversation with Niall McGrath [207]; Epilogue: “Trasnú”: a poem by Cathal Ó Searcaigh [230]; “Sic Transit”; trans. Frank Sewell [232]; Notes on Contributors [235]. Select Bibliography [237] incls. Dedicatory poem to Máire Mhac an tSaoi. [23 b&w photos.]
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Criticism
Gréagóir Ó Duill, ‘Filíocht Chathal Uí
Shearchaigh: I dtreo anailís théamúil’, in Comhar (Nollaig 1993), p.35.
Djinn Gallagher, ‘Irihs, Gifted and Gay’, in The Tribune Magazine (15 Sept. 1996), p.12.
Victoria White, ‘Gay Love as Gaeilge’, in The Irish Times (1 March 1996), p.11.
A. J. Hughes, ‘Cathal Ó Searcaigh, file’, in Hughes, ed., Le chemin du retour/Pilleadh an deoraí.
Frankie Sewell, Extending the Alhambra: Four Modern Irish Poets (Univ. of Ulster, CILB 1998).
Breen Ó Conchubar [article], in Irish Studies [Boston College], 2, 2 (Spring 1999) [homosexuality and the Irish language in poetry].
Lillis Ó Laoire, ‘Dearg Dobhogtha Chain/The Indelible Mark of Cain: Sexual Dissidence in the Poetry of Cathal Ó Searcaigh’, in Éibhear Walshe, ed., Sex, Nation and Dissent in Irish Writing (Cork UP 1997), pp.221-34.
Mitsuko Ohno, ‘Hokusai, Basho, Zen and More: Japanese Influences on Irish Poets’, in Journal of Irish Studies (IASIL-Japan), XVII (2002), pp.15-31; pp.27-28; pp.26-27.
James Doan & Frank Sewell, eds., On the Side of Light: The Poetry of Cathal Ó Searchaigh (Galway: Arlen House 2003), 266pp..
Éibhear Walshe, ed., Sex, Nation and Dissent in Irish Writing (Cork UP 1997); Frank Sewell, Modern Irish Poetry: A New Alhambra (OUP 2000) and John Brown, In the Chair: Interview with Poets from the North of Ireland (Galway: Salmon Press 2002) [q.pp.] Also, sundry remarks in Commentary.
Liz Curtis [interview], ‘Learning what is meant by home’, Fortnight (April 1996), p.32-33.
Nuala Ní Dhomnaill ‘explains who she picked, and why’ (feature-article on Duffy & Dorgan, eds., Watching the River Flow: A Century of Irish Poetry [anthology], in The Irish Times, Weekend, 27 Nov. 1999.
Alan Titley, ‘Cathal O Searchaigh’s intensely lyrical celebration of place fuses ancient concerns with a range of styles that shows that he is not only a poet but an artist also.’ (The Bright Wave, p.22; cited by Malachi O’Neill, BA Diss., UUC 2000.)
Peter Sirr, Irish Times (5 July 1997) considers that Sewell’s translations in Out in the Open are accurate and plain, substituting a rough and ready demotic for Ó Searcaigh’s direct Irish but rarely providing memorable poems in themselves; Selected Poems available from the same publisher. See also harsher review in Books Ireland.
Brian Ó Conchubhair, ‘Cathal Ó Searcaigh: Teip agus Téagar na Teangan/Falling Down and Falling Back on Language’ (2003), In James Doan & Frank Sewell, eds., On the Side of Light: The Poetry of Cathal Ó Searchaigh, Galway: Arlen House 2003, pp.166-204; p.187.)
Frank Sewell, ‘James Joyce’s Influence on Writers in Irish’, in Geert Lernout, et al., eds., The Reception of James Joyce in Europe, Thoemmes/Continuum 2004).
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Notes
Greagóir Ó Duill, ed., Filíocht Uladh 1960-1985
(Coiscéim 1986), pp.211-36 [selection].
Books in Print (1994): An Bealach ’na Bhaile (Cló Iar-Chonnachta) 64 pp £2 pb. Dec ‘91; Homecoming/An Bealach ‘na Bhaile (Cló Iar-Chonnachta). 212 pp £7.50 pb 1-874700-55-9. May ‘93 [NO ISBNs].
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)