MACDARA WOODS

Born in Dublin, 1942, has been publishing since the early sixties. Lives in Dublin, and when he can in Umbria, Italy. Married to
the poet Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin. They have a son, Niall, a musician.

Thirteen book-publications, as follows:

*Decimal D. Sec Drinks In A Bar In Marrakesh  (1970), New Writers’ Press
*Early Morning Matins  (1972), Gallery Press
*The King of the Dead & other Libyan Tales (1978), Martin, Brian & O’Keeffe, London (with the author, Redwan
Abushwesha).
*Stopping The Lights In Ranelagh (1987, reprinted 1988), Dedalus Press
*Miz Moon  (1988), Dedalus Press
*The Hanged Man Was Not Surrendering  (1990), Dedalus Press
*The Kilkenny Anthology  (1991), Kilkenny Co Council
*Notes From The Countries Of Blood-Red Flowers  (1994), Dedalus Press
*Selected Poems (1996), Dedalus Press
*Knowledge In The Blood: New and Selected Poems (2000), Dedalus Press
*The Nightingale Water (2001), Dedalus Press

In Italian translation, working with the translator, Rita Castigli:

*Biglietto di Sola Andata  (1998) Moby Dick Editrice, Faenza
*Con Pesaro ai Miei Piedi (1999) Volumnia Editrice, Perugia with 46 minute CD, text spoken by the author, music by Italian
group Militia.

Other:

*Introduction to the Greek edition of Patrick Kavanagh’s Great Hunger, (Kastaniotis, Athens 1999)
*Introduction to The Collected Poems of John Jordan, (Dedalus, Dublin 1989)

Aosdána:

*In 1986 he was elected to Aosdána, the national affiliation of artists set up by the Government to honour those whose work
has made an outstanding contribution to the Arts in Ireland.

Translation:

*Took part in the 14eme Festival Franco-Anglais, (Poetry/Translation Festival), Theatre Les Dechargeurs, Paris, June 1991
(see La Traductiere, No. 10, Paris-Quebec,1992).

*Took part in Tyrone Guthrie Centre Poetry Translation Seminar, January 1998, with the authors, translating the Hebrew of
Amir Or and Agi Mish’Ol into English.

*While he has translated from a number of languages, from French and Italian particularly, his own work has been translated,
at various times, into Italian, French, Portuguese, Galician, Russian, Flemish, Arabic, Serbo-Croat, Spanish, German and
Korean and has had at least magazine publication in these languages. Currently being further translated into Greek  Russian and
German for wider publication in those languages.

Recordings:

Has work represented in various sound/video archives, including:

*Lamont Poetry Library,  Harvard University (made for Harvard/British Council 1970)
*Archives RTE Radio (National Radio Station, Ireland)
*Archives Alliance Francaise, Dublin
*Voice-Over for Nigel Rolfe Installation, celebrating The Great Book Of Ireland,  Irish Museum of  Modern Art, Dublin, 1991
*Archives Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut
*Archives University of Michigan at Flint, sixty minute video, Visiting Writers Series 1989
*Archives De La Salle University, Philadelphia 1995
*Archives University of Southern Georgia 1996
*Archives University of Massachusetts 2002/3
*Archives Emerson College Boston 2003

*Two poems are also included on the CD, dublin fifteen, Poems of the City, from The Irish Writers’ Centre, 1997.

*Has collaborated with numerous artists and musicians over the years on sound recordings and cross disciplinary projects ---  
see Nigel Rolfe Installation above, (also, for example, took the part of Stephen, inter alia, in a dramatised Reading of Ulysses,
attended by Sylvia Beach, as part of the 1962 Dublin Joyce Celebrations.)

Songs:

*Collaborated with composer/songwriter Brendan Graham for song Winter, Fire and Snow (based on his 1993 poem, Fire
and Snow and Carnevale), now on world-wide release in several different recordings on both sides of the Atlantic, by, among
others, Katie McMahon, Eimear Quinn, Benita Hill of Nashville. First recording anywhere was by Irish group Anúna, with
Katie McMahon, 1994.

Music:

*Collaborated with composer John Wolfe Brennan on CD Text, Context, Co-Text & Co-Co-Text, Creative Works Records
CW 1025, Lucerne 1994

*Collaborated with Italian group Militia on CD, Elvengamello, published by Materiali Sonori, Rome 1997. Maso CD 90072.

*Again with Militia for CD Above Pesaro, from Materiali Sonori, Rome 1999. (46 minute CD, text spoken by the author)
Maso CD 90113.

*Read with composer Ben Dwyer and Vox21 for Crow Poems, Festival Of Contemporary Music, Sligo, 2002.

*Read with Double Bassist Richard Hartshorne, at performance of J.S. Bach: Six Solo Suites at the Verbal Arts Centre,
Derry, July 8th, 2002

*With Ben Dwyer, in the Bank of Ireland, February 2003, performed In the Ranelagh Gardens: September 2002, sequence of
twelve poems commissioned for the Mainly Modern Series to go with new music, in response, by Ben Dwyer.

*This work, words and music, was performed again in the National Gallery of Ireland, September 2003.

Broadcast:

*Has broadcast his poems on RTE (National Radio), BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), Hilversum (Holland), Radio
Bremen (Germany), Radio Tripoli (Libya), Radio Lutece (Paris), Pacific Radio Network, WBAI - FM New York City, ABC
(Australian Broadcasting Corporation), and Radio/Television Company, St Petersburg, Russia. A further concert for RAI
(Italian Radio/Television) is scheduled for next year, with the group Militia.

Readings:

*Has been regularly reading his poems throughout Europe, in Ireland, Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy over the past
forty years, and in 22 States of the US since 1989, ranging in all from the University of California at Berkeley to the Maxim
Gorki Literary Institute in Moscow, 1992, and Moscow State University, and Irish Embassy, Moscow 2003. Latest U.S.
reading tour, March/April 2003.

Residencies:

*Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig, Newbliss, Co Monaghan, some twelve-plus stays since 1980, when it opened.
*First Writer-In-Residence for Kilkenny City & County, 1990/91
*Heinrich Boll Cottage, Achill Island, Co Mayo, Spring 1991. (First Irish Artist to stay there).
*Guest of the Maxim Gorki Literary Institute, Moscow, September into October 1992. (In connection with Irish Writers
Centre, Dublin.)
*VCCA (Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Sweetbriar, VA, USA), May 1994

Magazine Editor:

*Since 1975 has been a (founding) co-editor of the distinguished Irish literary magazine, Cyphers, one of the longest-running
literary magazines in the history of the Republic.

Currently

*Completed a long poem, The Cello Suites, a 470 line series of 36 new pieces, in counterpoint, in response to performance by
US double-bassist, Richard Hartshorne, at Verbal Arts Centre in Derry, June 2002.

*Current tours: Austria, January 2003. USA, March 2003. Russia, April 2003.

*USA, December 2003, (New Hampshire, Premiere reading of The Cello Suites, in major programme with Richard
Hartshorne again performing the Bach suites).

*Has just completed a new collection.

Website: http://homepage.tinet.ie/~writing/051.MW.html
(Contact: amacdar@hotmail.com)