Paul Durcan – Imprint: Writer in Profile

This episode with Paul Durcan begins with his interest in sport in his early childhood. He explains that he started writing poetry at 14 years old in the hope of attracting interest from girls. Durcan outlines his powerful relationship and mentorship with Michael Hartnett and how his influence led him to the work of James Joyce and Ulysses in particular. Theo Dorgan quizzes him on his status as a well-known public and important cultural figure. Durcan skates around the notion of celebrity and speaks about the importance of addressing public matters directly through poetry. He also discusses the writing process – the assembling and re-assembling of phrases in the middle of the night and the way a poem ‘announces itself’.

Imprint, a literature review programme, and its sister show Imprint: Writer in Profile screened on RTÉ1 for three seasons. Both were presented by Irish poet, writer and lecturer Theo Dorgan. Over the course of the Writer in Profile series Dorgan conducted extended, in-depth interviews with a wide range of Irish and international writers including Colm Tóibín, Bernard MacLaverty, Jennifer Johnston, Joseph O’Connor, Michael Longley, Doris Lessing, John Montague, Eavan Boland, Gore Vidal, Richard Ford and Margaret Atwood. This episode is part of The Loopline Collection Volume 1. To watch more of the collection click here.