Publisher's Synopsis
"In this, his third collection, Gerard Hanberry goes for rawness and honesty, exploring a deeper well of feeling - while there is humour and celebration he does not shirk the darker shades of regret, fear, anger and loss. While some pieces are pithy and compact, others capture a moment in life with the arc of a short story. Thoughtful, yet sometimes playful, in the best of these poems the personal and political are fellow travellers, while the everyday and the fantastic are inseparable heartbeats. As a teacher by profession, he knows how to close one eye then the other, the role of perception - juxtaposition of contrary positions, the creative tension between knowing yet still asking those same awkward questions."
Pete Mullineaux
"At Grattan Road is bursting at the seams with fine poems."
The Irish Times
At Grattan Road is Gerard Hanberry's third collection of poetry, following Rough Night (2002) and Something Like Lovers (2005), both from Stonebridge Publications, Wales. Other publications are his An Introduction to Poetry handbook and a biography of the Wilde family, More Lives Than One, which was shortlisted for the Kingston University Press Non-Fiction Prize. His work has been widely published. 'Poetry on the Dart' (Dublin's version of 'Poems on the Underground') featured a poem during the summer of 2007. In 2004 he was awarded the Brendan Kennelly/ Sunday Tribune Poetry Prize. Gerard holds an MA in Writing from the National University of Ireland, Galway where he teaches a creative writing seminar to undergraduates and delivers the poetry module on the Evening BA Degree course. He also teaches English at his own 'alma mater', St Enda's College, Salthill. Gerard is a member of the advisory panel to the Cúirt International Festival of Literature. He lives with his wife Kerry in their home on the edge of Galway Bay where they raised their family of four, three sons, Jamie, Daniel and Greg and their daughter Jane.
