Publisher's Synopsis
Once an Olympic-style wrestler, now a computer science professor, John Murphy brings a wealth of unusual experience to this debut collection. The voice is distinctly urban and European in tone. The themes broached in The Book of Water include the economic crisis, fatherhood, illness, marriage and divorce, along with the inevitable flux and uncertainty of 21st-century life in Ireland. All are approached with a mixture of sensitivity and a dark sense of humour.
John Murphy lives and works in Dublin. He received a PhD from Trinity College in 1994, and is now a computer scientist and university tutor. His work has twice been shortlisted for the Hennessy New Irish Writing Prize, as well as for the Bridport and the Patrick Kavanagh Prizes. His poems have been published in magazines like Poetry Ireland Review, Cyphers and Ambit. A founding member of the Beneavin Writers group, he regularly reads at the Whitehouse Poets in Limerick, and at OBheal in Cork.
