Dermot Bolger facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Dermot Bolger
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Bolger at the Listowel Literary Festival
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| Born | 1959 (age 65–66) Finglas, Ireland |
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| Relatives | June Considine (sister) |
Dermot Bolger (born in 1959) is an Irish writer from Dublin, Ireland. He writes novels, plays, and poems, and he also works as an editor. He was born in the Finglas area of Dublin. His older sister, June Considine, is also a writer.
Dermot Bolger has written many novels, including Night Shift (1982), The Woman's Daughter (1987), The Journey Home (1990), Father's Music (1997), Temptation (2000), The Valparaiso Voyage (2001), and The Family on Paradise Pier (2005). He is a member of Aosdána, an Irish association for artists.
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Dermot Bolger's Career as a Writer
Dermot Bolger's early books and plays often focused on characters from working-class areas of Dublin, like Finglas and Ballymun. These characters sometimes felt disconnected from society. Later, his stories explored wider topics and different places.
Two of his novels, The Family on Paradise Pier and An Ark of Light, tell the story of a real family, the Goold-Verschoyles. Some family members chose to follow communism in the 1930s, which led to sad events. The first book covers their story until 1948. The second book, An Ark of Light, focuses on the daughter, Eva. She makes brave choices about her life in 1950s Ireland. She leaves a difficult marriage and goes on an amazing journey of self-discovery. She travels from busy Moroccan streets to living in a caravan in her old age in County Mayo. Eva is a strong idealist who tries to find her own way while also dealing with her children's lives. This book also looks at a mother's worries for her son as he navigates a challenging world.
Bolger's novel, The Lonely Sea and Sky, is based on a true story from wartime. It's about a small, unarmed Irish ship from Wexford, The M.V. Kerlogue. Its crew rescued German sailors from a navy ship that had tried to sink them earlier.
His novel, Tanglewood, explored the economic challenges in Ireland during the mid-2000s. It was described as a great novel about how the economy, marriages, and memories were all changing at that time.
Dermot Bolger also adapted James Joyce's famous novel, Ulysses, for the stage. It was first performed in Glasgow in 2012 and later toured to China in 2014. In 2017 and 2018, the Abbey Theatre in Dublin also staged the play.
Supporting New Writers
When he was just 18 years old in 1977, Dermot Bolger started Raven Arts Press. This publishing company helped many new writers get their first books published. Some of these writers include Patrick McCabe, Colm Toibin, and Sebastian Barry. Raven Arts Press also published the first English translations of Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill's work.
In 1988, Raven Arts Press published Paddy Doyle's important memoir, The God Squad. This book shared important stories about children's experiences in certain institutions. Later, in 1991, they published Patrick Galvin's memoir Song for a Raggy Boy. This book was later made into a film in 2003.
Dermot Bolger ran Raven Arts Press until 1992. Then, he co-founded New Island Books with Edwin Higel. Their goal was to keep supporting new Irish writers. In 2022, New Island Books celebrated 30 years of publishing. It is known as a leading independent publisher of Irish fiction and non-fiction.
Since 1989, Bolger has also helped edit the "New Irish Writing" page. This page has appeared in different Irish newspapers since 1989, giving a platform to new writers. It is currently hosted by the Irish Independent newspaper.
In May 2022, Dermot Bolger received an honorary doctorate in literature from the National University of Ireland. This is a special award that recognizes his important contributions to literature.
Dermot Bolger's Books
- Night Shift (1985): This was Dermot Bolger's first novel.
- The Journey Home (1990): This book was first published by Penguin and became a very popular book in Ireland. It was later re-released by Flamingo/HarperCollins. Many years after it first came out, it was published in the United States by the University of Texas Press and received a main review in the New York Times Book Review section.
- The Family on Paradise Pier (2005): This story begins in a quiet village in County Donegal in 1915. It follows an Irish family through major historical events. These include the Irish War of Independence, a big strike in Britain, life in Moscow in the 1930s, the Spanish Civil War, and difficult times in Soviet camps and Irish internment camps. It also covers the Blitz in London during World War II.
Other Novels by Dermot Bolger
- 1987 and 1991: The Woman’s Daughter
- 1992: Emily’s Shoes
- 1994: A Second Life
- 1997: Father's Music
- 2000: Temptation
- 2007: The Valparaiso Voyage
- 2005: The Family on Paradise Pier (a story about Brian Goold-Verschoyle)
- 2010: New Town Soul
- 2012: The Fall of Ireland
- 2015: Tanglewood
- 2016: The Lonely Sea and Sky (a coming-of-age novel about a wartime rescue by the Irish ship, The MV Kerlogue)
- 2018: An Ark of Light (This book continues the story of Eva Fitzgerald, who was a main character in Bolger's 2005 novel, The Family on Paradise Pier.)
- 2020: Secrets Never Told: This is Bolger's first collection of short stories. His publishers described them as stories that "look beneath the surface of our lives." They explore the secrets that connect or break relationships. Many of these stories were first broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
- 2024: Hide Away.
Plays by Dermot Bolger
- 1989: The Lament for Arthur Cleary
- 1990: Blinded by the Light
- 1990: In High Germany (This play is about three friends who emigrate. Their lives change over the years, as explored in two later plays, The Parting Glass and Home, Boys, Home.)
- 1990: The Holy Ground
- 1991: One Last White Horse
- 1994: A Dublin Bloom
- 1995: April Bright
- 1999: The Passion of Jerome
- 2000: Consenting Adults
- 2004: A Dublin Bloom (full production – Chicago)
- 2005: From these Green Heights
- 2006: The Townlands of Brazil
- 2007: Walking the Road
- 2008: The Consequences of Lightning
- 2010: The Parting Glass* (This play is a follow-up, 20 years later, about the life of Eoin. He was the narrator in Bolger's earlier play, In High Germany.)
- 2012: Tea Chests and Dreams
- 2012: Ulysses: a stage adaptation of James Joyce's novel (Produced by the Tron Theatre, Glasgow, and toured Scotland and China)
- 2017: Ulysses: a revised and expanded stage adaption of Joyce's novel (First shown at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in October 2017)
- 2017: Bang Bang
- 2019: Last Orders at the Dockside (Staged by the Abbey Theatre as part of the 2019 Dublin Theatre Festival)
- 2020: A Hand of Jacks (A monologue commissioned by the Abbey Theatre as part of a national response to the coronavirus. Fifty playwrights wrote monologues, and actors filmed themselves performing them. Bolger’s play was performed by Dawn Bradfield.)
- 2021: The Messenger (A one-woman play about the North Strand bombings in Dublin in 1941. It was streamed online by Axis, Ballymun, to mark the 80th anniversary of the bombing.)
- 2024: Home, Boys, Home (This is the final part of a series of three plays. It follows the lives of three young Dubliners who moved abroad. The first play, In High Germany (1990), showed them together at a football match in Germany in 1988. The second play, The Parting Glass (2010), showed how their lives changed. In Home, Boys, Home, the last two friends return to a very different Ireland in 2024. The changing faces on the Irish football team in these plays represent the changing idea of Irish identity.)
Poetry by Dermot Bolger
- 1980: The Habit of Flesh, Raven Arts Press
- 1981: Finglas Lilies, Raven Arts Press
- 1982: No Waiting America, Raven Arts Press
- 1986: Internal Exiles, Dublin: Dolmen
- 1989: Leinster Street Ghosts, Raven Arts Press
- 1998: Taking my Letters Back, Dublin: New Island Books
- 2004: The Chosen Moment, Dublin: New Island Books
- 2008: External Affairs, Dublin: New Island Books, 80 pages. ISBN: 978-1-84840-028-3
- 2012: The Venice Suite: A Voyage Through Loss, Dublin: New Island Books.
- 2015: That Which is Suddenly Precious: New & Selected Poems, Dublin: New Island Books.
- 2022: Other People's Lives, Dublin: New Island Books.
