Acknowledgements are due to the editors of the following magazines and periodicals where some of my poems or versions of them have been published, sometimes under pseudonym: Alternative Arts & Literature Magazine, Cork Literary Review, Cyphers, Envoi, Gobbet, Oral, Orbis, Pharos, Poetry Ireland News, Poetry Ireland Review, Poet’s Voice, Psychopoetica, The North, The SHOp, The Stinging Fly, Southword, Starline, and The Stony Thursday Book.
I acknowledge with thanks the financial assistance of the Listowel Writers’ Week Committee, the Ireland Funds, Cork City Enterprise Board and The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon towards the publication of my books.
Thanks to Ton van Steenbergen for permission to use his painting Masker on the cover of The Shoreline of Falling, and to Galerie Vieleers in Amsterdam for their kind assistance in this matter, and also to the Estate of Daniel O’Neill, The National Gallery of Ireland and DACS for permission to use Daniel O’Neill’s Scarecrows at Newtownards on the cover of The Green Crown.
Grateful acknowledgement of Maire Bradshaw of Bradshaw Books, my excellent former publisher, and wishing her a happy retirement.
Special thanks to Alice Notley and the late Douglas Oliver and the others involved with the workshop they ran at the British Institute in Paris in the 1990s, and to Sheila O’Hagan and the other members of the Stephen’s Green workshop in Dublin, now at the Irish Writer’s Centre.
My gratitude also to Moving Parts Theatre Group in Paris for their generous public readings of my plays. Actors Dario Costa, Carey Downer, Stephanie Campion, Jane Rony, Joseph Marshall and Mike Dineen read The Numberless House (February 2012 in the cellar of Carr’s Pub). Dario Costa, James Joint, Stephanie Campion, and Damian Corcoran read Tenebrae (February 2013 at Carr’s Pub). Special thanks to Steph for her direction and organisation.
My thanks to Arts and Disability Ireland and The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon for a mentoring bursary 2015/16 for director Sophie Motley to support my transition from poetry to playwriting, and specifically the development of my play The Spider’s House. And likewise for a New Work Award 2016/17 to support the writing of a new play, Ob Gob. My thanks too to Project Arts Centre and Rough Magic for their supports for the development of Ob Gob, and most especially my theatre mentor: director and dramaturge Sophie Motley. My gratitude also to actors Shane O’Reilly and Mark Doherty for the Dublin reading of The Spider’s House.
Many thanks to the Abbey Theatre for the use of the Peacock stage for the July 2017 reading of Ob Gob to invited theatre professionals. Special thanks to director and dramaturg Sarah Baxter, and to actors Ruth Lehane, Áine Ní Laoghaire, Cara Christie, and Stephane Dufresne as readers. Also to Helen McGinty for design and Joanna Crawley for production.
My thanks to Donal Gallagher and Asylum Productions for taking up Ob Gob with a view to production at PAC and CMF in 2020, and to the Arts Council for a Theatre Project Award and an Arts Participation Award to support this. Thanks to CMF and Triskel Arts Centre for facilitating the reading at TDC, with actors Paula McGlinchey, Aoibhín Murphy, Grace Collender, and Eleanor Walsh. Also to Tanya Dean for dramaturgy and Maura O’Keeffe for production, and Lorraine Maye and Kath Gorman of Cork Midsummer Festival for their invaluable support.
Many thanks to director Maisie Lee, designers Molly O’Cathain, Stephen Dodd and Denis Clohessy, dramaturg Pamela McQueen, and Ruth McGowan of Dublin Fringe Festival and Anthony Fox of The New Theatre for their essential presence in my winning application for the Project /ADI Realise Production Award for my play The Spider’s House.
Following their brilliant production of The Spider’s House at Project Arts Centre on February 27th to March 7th 2020, my heartfelt thanks to the following: Director Maisie Lee, Producer Rachel Bergin, Set and Costume design Deirdre Dwyer, Lighting design Stephen Dodd, Sound design Carl Kennedy, Dramaturg Pamela McQueen, Movement Director Sue Mythen, Production Manager Sean Dennehy, Stage Manager Lisa Barry, Assistant Stage Manager Zoe Reynolds. Paulsa was played by Lloyd Cooney, Issy by Genevieve Hulme-Beaman, Silas by Ronan Leahy, and Voice in the Wardrobe by Jody O’Neill. Special thanks to Pádraig Naughton and Cian O’Brien of Arts and Disability Ireland and Project Arts Centre respectively for everything, including the Realise Production Award, and all involved at Dublin City Council, The LAB, Dublin Fringe Festival, Dance House, and Fishamble’s New Play Clinic, for their generous and invaluable support.
My gratitude to the following for the excellent work-in-progress reading of my apocalyptic play Thief of Worlds on 25th November 2021 at axis:Ballymun — director Aoife Spillane-Hinks, producer Melissa Nolan, dramaturg Pamela McQueen, with support from sound designer Carl Kennedy, set/costume designer Deirdre Dwyer and lighting designer Stephen Dodd, and to actors/readers Jody O’Neill, Ronan Leahy, Clare Monnelly, and Gemma Kane. Many thanks to the Arts Council, axis:Ballymun and Arts and Disability Ireland for their generosity in supporting this development.
Special thanks also to Mark O’Brien and Niamh Ní Chonchubhair at axis:Ballymun for their support throughout the whole Thief of Worlds development period.
Particular thanks to Eibhlín Gleeson of Cork Opera House and Yvon Bonenfant and Jools Gilson of UCC Department of Theatre for championing and facilitating my play Daughter of God at the Granary Theatre, Cork, in March 2023. The play wouldn’t have happened without their enthusiasm.
Gratitude for the creatives involved in the production of Daughter of God: director Donal Gallagher, set and costume designer Medb Lambert, producer Maura O’Keeffe (and the other production talents at Once Off Productions) sound design Cormac O’Connor, lighting design Drew McCathy, doll-maker Lisa Zagone, production manager Joe McNichols, stage manager Zoe Reynolds, intimacy director Sue Mythen, fight consultant Ciaran O’Grady. Actors Claire Loy playing Yulia, Michaela Murphy playing Caoimhe, Megan Haly playing Neon, and Eleanor Walsh playing Yobby. Also special thanks to Jody O’Neill for the Perforum inclusion, and Gavin Kostik for his invaluable help via Fishamble’s New Play Clinic.
Audio recordings taken from poetry readings given for The Irish Writer’s Centre, Poetry Ireland in association with Bradshaw Books, Listowel Writer’s Week, Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris, and Ó Bhéal in Cork. My thanks to all concerned for their generosity and support.
Video recordings taken from readings given for the UCD Irish Poetry Reading Archive in 2018, with my special gratitude to everyone involved at UCD Library Special Collections for their kindness making things easier for a stressed out autistic.
And last, but definitely not least, my thanks to Peter FitzGerald for creating this wonderful website.