Damian Smyth
1962 -
Damian Smyth is a poet and playwright from Downpatrick, Co. Down. His first collection of poems, Downpatrick Races (Lagan Press), appeared in 2000. This was followed by The Down Recorder – an epic poem drawing on news stories in the local newspaper over 150 years – in 2004. Both Lamentations, a sequence of 70 brief elegies, and Market Street, appeared in 2010. He has edited and introduced Joseph Tomelty: Collected Plays (2011), Martin Lynch: Three Plays (1996) and John Hewitt: Two Plays (2000), all reflecting a commitment to the regional ethos in Ulster. A poetry pamphlet, Apparitions: A Hurricane appeared from Templar in 2013 and his fifth full collection, Mesopotamia, was published by the same publisher in May 2014. He holds a doctorate in contemporary philosophy from Queen's University Belfast and is Head of Literature & Drama at the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.