Friday, April 13, 2007

Derek Mahon

Derek Mahon, one of the poets on the Leaving Certificate cycle (he's back on for the 2008 and 2009 exams) has just been awarded the prestigious David Cohen Prize for his lifetime achievement in literature. In addition, his fine publisher, Peter Fallon's Gallery Press, was given the Clarissa Luard award. Mahon's poems on the LC course include 'Antarctica' (about Captain Oates on the famous doomed Scott expedition, a villanelle built around the famous words 'I am just going outside, and may be some time'), 'After the Titanic' (spoken by the self-justifying owner of the White Star Line, Bruce Ismay) and his best-known poem 'A Disused Shed in County Wexford'.

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