Life
1970- ; b. in England; brought up in Bray, Co. Wicklow; winner of Frields
Nation Poetry prize, (£1,000), 1994; co-ed. College Green; wrote
a doctorate on Beckett, TCD; issued Thirst (1997), a first poetry
collection; ed. Stream and Gliding Sun: A Wicklow Anthology (1998),
and I Am the Crocus (1998), an anthology of poems by Wicklow children
produced during his period as writer in residence; fnd. ed. Metre,
with Justin Quinn and others; issued Misery Hill (2000), poems;
reviews for Irish Times, Books Ireland, London Review of
Books, and contribs. poetry to Times Literary Supplement; teaches
at University of Hull; with Justin Quinn and Hugh Maxton, ed. Metre; also reviews in Books Ireland, Thumbscrew,
Times Literary Supplement, P. N. Review, Honest Ulsterman,
Metre, Verse, and Times Change; his partner is the
poet Catríona O’Reilly.
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Works
Poetry, Thirst (Oldcastle: Gallery Press 1997), 78pp.
[reviewed in TLS, 3 July 1998].
Miscellaneous, ed. Stream and Gliding Sun: A Wicklow Anthology (Wicklow Co. Council 1998), 236pp.; ed., I Am the Crocus (Wicklow Co. Council 1998), 105pp.
Journalism, review essay on Alan Sokol and Jean Bricmont, Intellectual Impostures (1998), in Irish Times (19 July 1998); Miscellaneous, ed., James Clarence Mangan, Poems (Oldcastle: Gallery Press 2003), 160pp.
Contributions, ‘Two Poems’ [“Ariadne”, “Macaw”], in Journal of Irish Studies (IASIL-Japan), XVII (2002), p.70.
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Criticism
Colin Graham, reviewing David Wheatley, Misery Hill (Gallery),
95pp., with works of Peter Sirr and Rita Kelly, writes, ‘David Wheatley’s
Misery Hill has at its centre another Dublin flâneur [...]
James Clarence Mangan, whom Wheatley makes into a street-prowling predecessor’.
Rita Ann Kelly ‘at her best when making the most of the anecdotal.
She is disarmingly endearing and perceptive in recounting her experiences
and friendships. Too at times too close to naivity and over-simplification,
she does have an ear for a finely tuned line and an eye for detail which
usually saves her. [...] Rita Ann Kelly’s poetry is gently teasing
and humanely open.’
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Notes
Brief appearances: One of several young poets featured in Katie
Donovan, ‘You Could Do Poetry’ (The Irish Times, 17 Oct.
1995). Speaker in “Transitions” panel of “Moving On 2”,
a conference at St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra (NUI) during 4–5 April
2003.
Les Troi Meteristes: David Wheatley writes to The Irish Times (10 Sept. 1996) to correct the impression in an IT feature (“Doing it Ourselves”) that he himself founded the College Green magazine, properly ascribed to Stephen Murray, and adds that his editorship of Metre is shared with Justin Quinn and Hugh Maxton. (Wheatley has an address at Wyndham Avenue, Bray, Co. Wicklow.)
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)