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Wake Forest
University Press

Wake Forest University Press

Dedicated to Irish Poetry

Wake: Up to Poetry

"The act of poetry is a rebel act."

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Harry Clifton: An Irishman Abroad

Harry Clifton: An Irishman Abroad

Though poet Harry Clifton is a native Dubliner and currently lives in Ireland, he has spent much of his adult life on the move.  Clifton grew up in Ireland and attended University College Dublin, but left the country when he was twenty-five to teach at a teacher training college in Post-Civil War Nigeria.  From there…

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Poem of the Week: “Augury” by Caitríona O’Reilly

Poem of the Week: “Augury” by Caitríona O’Reilly

This week’s poem is by Caitríona O’Reilly, whose poems are featured in our recent anthology, The Wake Forest Book of Irish Women’s Poetry. Last fall, the Wake Forest community was offered the opportunity to listen to O’Reilly, along with  Rita Ann Higgins, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, and Leontia Flynn, as the Women’s Anthology tour kicked off…

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A Lil’ Bit of Lit. Crit.: “The Essential Brendan Kennelly”

A Lil’ Bit of Lit. Crit.: “The Essential Brendan Kennelly”

In their foreword to the Press’s fall publication of The Essential Brendan Kennelly, Terrence Brown and Michael Longley write that “Kennelly’s poetry is instinctively sociable, hospitable as it is the lives, voices, deeds and defining deaths of a host of characters.” Textually, this quality of Kennelly’s work leaps off the page through Kennelly’s written shifts…

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Arts & Culture

Arts & Culture

The cover art on The Wake Forest Series of Irish Poetry, Volume II to the casual observer may seem a tad too modernist or minimalist to garner any serious, long-term reflection. It could be say, a fork and a crumpled foil wrapper, or perhaps a field goal being kicked for those of us (yes, myself included)…

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U2: Brendan Kennelly’s Number One Fans

U2: Brendan Kennelly’s Number One Fans

Like many Irish people, the poet Brendan Kennelly is a fan of the band U2. However, Kennelly has a leg up on his fellow U2 fans: the band is a fan of him. Kennelly is often called “the people’s poet” for his open, accessible style, (Dublin’s Sunday Tribune). Kennelly’s epic poem, The Book of Judas,…

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Interview with an Intern!

This past semester, our new intern Kelly Neubeiser had the opportunity to intern with Simon & Schuster in London. Today, Kelly sat down with us to discuss some of her experiences at S&S, and we realized that while these two publishers could not be any more dissimilar, there are some elements that this publishing powerhouse…

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Poem of the Week: “Bee Orchid” by Michael Longley

The weather in Winston-Salem today is beautiful. It’s warm and breezy, and one can in indulge in tricking him- or herself into believing that spring has come early on this fine day. Hoping to encourage this weather to stay (please!), we’ve chosen a poem from Michael Longley’s A Hundred Doors, wherein the imagery inspires visions…

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Arts and Culture: Cover Art for McGuckian’s My Love Has Fared Inland

According to a review by Borbala Farago in The Irish University Review, Medbh McGuckian’s My Love Has Fared Inland takes up “familiar themes of creativity and spirituality” and the poems “trace an introspective trajectory” including themes of “death, writing, nature, and love.” Due to the diverse content of the book, it was important for Wake Forest University…

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Conor O’Callaghan

Conor O’Callaghan

Poet Conor O’Callaghan may best be known to fans of Wake Forest Press for his books of poetry such as Fiction and Seatown and Earlier Poems. He will also be editing our Wake Forest Series of Irish Poetry, Volume III, which will be released next year. However, did you know that he also wrote a memoir about the Roy…

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