It was a happy marriage between poet and artist. Poet (and playwright) Vincent Woods asked artist Charlie Cullen to furnish drawings for his book, Lives and Miracles. Cullen said yes, and their joint work is published by Arlen House. Friends came to congratulate the pair and wish the union well at the Project Arts Centre in Temple Bar.
Kick-starting the launch was the announcement that the book's main poem, 'The Life and Miracles of Christy McGaddy', had won the Ted McNulty Award. Joseph Woods, director of Poetry Ireland, explained that the award is presented to the best poem published during the year in the quarterly Poetry Ireland Review. Poet Sheila O'Hagan, who is McNulty's widow, said the award "is very special because Ted was a wonderful poet and a great armchair traveller. That's why I chose a plane as the trophy".
The painter, Michael Cullen, who is not related to Charlie Cullen but who does have a Dublin studio on Henrietta Street not far from his fellow artist, came along to get a copy of the new book. His own work was recently on view in Ennis at a group show in the Glór Musical Centre.
Woods, who worked for RTÉ as a Morning Ireland journalist from 1986 to 1989, said four new plays will be broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 next spring, each based on his poem's Christy McGaddy character, who is "a Christ-like character who grows up in Leitrim and finds his own Calvary there".
All the poems in the new book, he says, "are out of the Leitrim landscape".
The poet out of Gortahorka, Co Donegal, Cathal Ó Searcaigh, attended the party before flying off the next day to his beloved Nepal. The recently published On the Side of Light, from Arlen House, is a collection of critical essays on his poetry, with photographs and many of his poems with English translations. It was launched last week in Galway and before that in Donegal.
Séamus Dooley, Irish secretary of the National Union of Journalists, also rushed in to join the poets and artists at the party. From Ferbane in Co Offaly, or a BIFFO (bright intelligent fellow from Offaly), as he explained himself, he and Woods were in the College of Commerce together back in 1981. The book was officially launched by journalist Susan McKay.