Peter Fallon (poet)

Peter Fallon (born 1951)[1] is an Irish poet, editor and publisher. As of 2023, he has edited and published 500 books of poetry and drama. He was elected a member of Aosdána, Ireland's arts academy, by his peers, and has been a professor at multiple universities. He is the subject of a 2014 festschrift, which included 17 poems in his honour, including one by Seamus Heaney.

Peter Fallon
Peter Fallon at the launch of the Gallery Press volume of Poems (Francis Ledwidge), August 2022
Peter Fallon at the launch of the Gallery Press volume of Poems (Francis Ledwidge), August 2022
Born1951
West Germany
NationalityIrish
Occupation(s)Poet, editor, publisher, professor
Years active20th and 21st centuries
Known forGallery Press
SpouseJean Barry
Children3
RelativesBP Fallon (brother)
AwardsHonorary doctorate (Villanova University), membership of Aosdána
Academic background
EducationGlenstal Abbey School
Alma materTrinity College Dublin
Academic work
DisciplineLiterature
Sub-disciplineIrish poetry, Irish drama
InstitutionsTrinity College Dublin, Deerfield Academy, Villanova University, Boston College
WebsiteOfficial website

Life

Born in West Germany to Irish parents in 1951,[1] while his father was serving with the British Army,[2] Fallon was brought to Ireland in 1957,[3] at the age of 6, and largely grew up on a farm at Lennoxbrook, near Kells, County Meath. For a period, he attended Benedictine-run Glenstal Abbey School.[4]

He moved to Dublin,[1] with a family home in Churchtown,[2] and with Eamonn Carr, he started, about 1968, a Beat Generation poetry performance group, Tara Telephone, which also developed a publishing arm, Tara Telephone Publications. The group toured as a musical trio, then expanded. Publications included a literary journal or magazine, Capella, and a broadsheet, The Book of Invasions, both with Jim Fitzpatrick as the lead illustrator; Capella published both works by local poets and contributions from Allen Ginsberg, Adrian Henri, John Lennon and David Bowie. Members of Tara Telephone went on to become co-founders of influential Celtic rock group, Horslips.[5] Fallon himself was an active member of the Dublin Poets' Union.[6]

Fallon attended Trinity College, graduating with an honours degree in 1975. He has had a number of collections of his own poetry published over more than 40 years.[1] He started to stay in a cottage in the garden area of the Loughcrew estate in northern County Meath in 1975, and bought it and some acres of land in 1984, later living there with his wife Jean and children.[2]

Editorial and publishing career

Fallon is the editor and publisher of Gallery Press, first of suburban Dublin, latterly of Loughcrew near Oldcastle, County Meath. The press, founded in 1970[3] when he was 18,[7] is one of Ireland's leading publishers of poetry; for its 25th anniversary, an event was held at the Abbey Theatre, opened by President of Ireland Mary Robinson, with Christy Moore as a special guest and with readings introduced by Seamus Heaney, while its 40th anniversary was marked by multiple events and a one-hour TV show on RTE. In all, Fallon has edited, as of 2023, 500 books of poetry and plays.[8]

Academic work

Fallon was an adjunct professor at Trinity College Dublin, the Heimbold Professor at Villanova University, and the Burns Professor at Boston College.[8] He was poet-in-residence at the Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts twice, including for its bicentennial year, from 1996 to 1997.[3][7]

Awards and honours

Fallon was elected by his peers to membership of Aosdána, the Irish affiliation or academy of creative artists.[8] He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Villanova University, and an Alumni Award by Trinity College Dublin.

He won a prize in the UK National Poetry Competition in 1982, the Meath Merit Award (Arts and Culture) in 1987, and the O'Shaughnessy Poetry Award in 1993.[3]

He was the subject of a Festschrift, Peter Fallon : A Poet, Publisher, Editor and Translator, in 2014.[9] The volume includes 17 poems written in his honour, including work by Seamus Heaney.[9]

Works

Own poetry
  • Among the Walls (1971)[1]
  • Coincidence of Flesh (1972)[1]
  • The First Affair (1974)[1]
  • The Speaking Stones (1978)[1]
  • Winter Work (1983, Gallery Press)[1]
  • The News and Weather (1987, Gallery Press)[1]
  • Eye to Eye (1993, Gallery Press)[1]
  • News of the World: Selected and New Poems (1998, Gallery Press)[1]
  • The Company of Horses (2007, Gallery Press)[8][1]
  • Strong, My Love (2014, Gallery Press)[8][1]

Translations
  • The Georgics of Virgil (2004, Gallery Press),[1] later republished in the Oxford World Classics series

As editor
  • Sense of Ireland (Anthology)[1]
  • The Penguin Book of Contemporary Irish Poetry (Anthology, 1990)[1]
  • Captivating Brightness (Anthology, co-edited with Des Lally and John Fanning)[10]
  • Loughcrew : The Cairns : A Guide To An Ancient Irish Landscape (Jean McMann, After Hours Books, 1994)[11]

In addition, he has edited and published more than 500 volumes of poetry and plays.[1]

Reception

His work as an editor has been described as making him "an arbiter of taste as well as a lead archaeologist of the layered communities in Irish poetry" while his translation of the Georgics of Virgil has been described as a "work of genius, a work that places Fallon in a great Trinity College classical studies tradition".[1]

Farming and personal life

Fallon is an active farmer on his lands in County Meath. He married Jean Barry, who was one of his small team at Gallery Press, in 1986; they have two children. Fallon has spoken publicly, and written in a fund-raising volume for a sudden-infant death charity, about the death of a third child in infancy.[12]

References
  1. "Peter Fallon (Germany, 1951)". Poetry International. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  2. Battersby, Eileen (7 February 1995). "The view from Gallery - 25 years on (Eileen Battersby talks to poet Peter Fallon...)". The Irish Times. p. 10.
  3. "Peter Fallon". The Poetry Project. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  4. Bannan, Sarah (18 June 2015). "Peter Fallon: 'I see the relationship between editor and author as less a duel than a duet'". The Irish Times. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  5. "Irish '60s & '70s Bands & Groups - Tara Telephone". Irishshowbands.net. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  6. Gillespie, Elgy (6 November 1973). "The Small Imprints - Peter Fallon and Gallery Press". The Irish Times. p. 10.
  7. East, Louise (6 June 1998). "Poetry in action". The Irish Times. p. 36.
  8. "Peter Fallon, poet". Boyne Music Festival. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  9. O’Sullivan, John P. (2 February 2014). "Poetic justice". The Times (of London). ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  10. "Captivating Brightness (listing, with table of contents)". Library of Villanova University - Catalog. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  11. "In Time's Eye: Loughcrew, A Good Local Celebration". The Irish Times. 24 August 1993. p. 11.
  12. Health section staff writer (20 October 1997). "Speaking the unspeakable ("How many children have you?" That should be an easy question to answer)". The Irish Times. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
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