Paula Meehan was born in 1955 in Dublin where she still lives. She studied at Trinity College, Dublin, and at Eastern Washington University in the U.S. She has received many awards, including the Marten Toonder Award for Literature, The Butler Literary Award for Poetry, the Denis Devlin Memorial Award and the PPI Award for Radio Drama. She has published five collections of poetry, the most recent being Painting Rain (Carcanet, 2009). A selected volume, entitled Mysteries of the Home, was published in 1996. Her writing for stage includes the plays Mrs Sweeney (1997), Cell (1999), and, for children, Kirkle (1995), The Voyage (1997) and The Wolf of Winter (2003/2004). Her poetry has been set to music by artists as diverse as the avant-garde composer John Wolf Brennan and the folksinger Christy Moore. She has collaborated throughout her working life with dancers, visual artists and film makers. Paula Meehan is a member of Aosdána, the Irish affiliation of writers and artists.
Professor Paula Meehan’s As if By Magic:Selected Poems is available to order from Dedalus Press from 1st October 2020 more information here.
For details of Professor Paula Meehan’s lectures as Ireland Professor of Poetry, as published by UCD Press in Imaginary Bonnets with Real Bees in them see here.
‘Meehan has what many poets lack, a sense of humour’ you can find more information on Professor Paula Meehan’s work by clicking here.