Desmond Egan


Desmond Egan is an Irish poet, publisher, and festival organiser. He has published over 20 collections of poetry as well as some translations of Greek plays. His own work has been translated into Albanian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Polish and Russian. He founded The Goldsmith Press, edited the quarterly magazine for the arts Era, and starting in 1987 he has served as artistic director of the Gerard Manley Hopkins International Festival each July in Kildare, Ireland.

Life

Egan was born in Athlone in the Irish midlands. His parents were Thomas Egan and national school teacher Kathleen Garland. He attended St Finian's College in Mullingar, then university at St Patrick's College, Maynooth, where he obtained his BA, and University College Dublin. He returned to his old school St Finian’s to teach English and Greek, then taught at Newbridge College, County Kildare, and in time settled in Newbridge to focus on writing as a career. He is married to the writer Vivienne Abbot. They have two daughters. Egan is fluent in Irish and French.

Works