Presenting and Translating Michael Hartnett/MicheálÓ hAirtnéide (1941-1999)

Abstract

"The death of any poet of stature is always to be lamented," wrote Joe Humphries in The Irish Times the day after Michael Hartnett's death, on early Wednesday, October 13, 1999, in St. Vincent's Hospital, Dublin. The poet was only 58 years old.
A native of Newcastle West, Co. Limerick, son of a house painter and a housewife, Michael Hartnett was locally educated before spending one year, from 1962 to 1963, at University College Dublin, where he studied philosophy and logic. He lived in London and Madrid, Spain, and again in Dublin, during the 1960s, settling down later in Co. Limerick, between 1974 and 1984; in 1985 he moved to Dublin where he spent almost of the rest of his life. He worked for many years in the Department of Posts and Telegraphs and later as a lecturer in creative writing at Thomond College, Limerick. He co-edited the magazine Arena with James Liddy and Liam O'Connor (1963-1965) and worked on a version of the Tao Te Chin while a curator of Joyce's tower at Sandycove. He also co-edited another magazine Choice with Desmond Egan, having also worked as a poetry editor of The Irish Times for a period.