Publisher's Synopsis
"This is deeply indigenous poetry, vitally in touch with a loved community and its experience."
Les Murray
"These sonnets make the best collection yet of Fitzmaurice's adult poems."
Declan Kiberd
"[T]he best contemporary, traditional, popular poet in English."
Ray Olson, Booklist
"Fitzmaurice is a wonderful poet."
Giles Foden, The Guardian
"He has a gift for making the quotidian interesting and investing the ordinary with extraordinary significance."
Gearóid Mac Lochlainn, The Celtic Pen
"[Fitzmaurice] is poetry's answer to J[ohn] B. Keane."
Fred Johnston, Books Ireland
"[Fitzmaurice] favours the sonnet and is able to manipulate this challenging form very effectively."
Angela Topping, Orbis
"[Fitzmaurice] is a master of the sonnet form."
Eugene O'Connell, Southword
Gabriel Fitzmaurice was born, in 1952, in the village of Moyvane, County Kerry where he still lives. From 1975 until his recent retirement, he was a teacher in the local primary school, later becoming the school principal teacher. He is author of more than forty books, including collections of poetry in English and Irish as well as several collections of verse for children. He has translated extensively from the Irish and has edited a number of anthologies of poetry in English and Irish. He has published two volumes of essays and collections of songs and ballads. A cassette of his poems, The Space Between: New and Selected Poems 1984-1992, is also available. He frequently broadcasts on radio and television on education and the arts.