Desmond Egan honoured for contribution to Kildare
Desmond Egan recieving the KCC Civic Honour Award from Cathaoirleach of the County of Kildare, Tim Durkin at the opening of the Gerard Manly Hopkins Festival, Newbridge Dominican College. Photo by Michael Donnelly
ACCLAIMED poet Desmond Egan has been awarded a civic honour rarely given out by Kildare County Council in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the arts, literature and culture in Kildare.
The Dara Bronze Award was presented at the official opening of the 38th Gerard Manley Hopkins International Literary Festival on Friday at Newbridge College Theatre. Mr Egan had the inscription of his name entered on the Roll of Civic Honours of Kildare under the council’s statutory powers.
The Dara Bronze Award is a limited-edition commemorative coin commissioned by the council and designed by Irish artist Mary Gregoriy. It is presented in recognition of distinguished contributions to the cultural, sporting or community life of Kildare and Ireland.
Mr Egan was born in Athlone but has spent most of his adult life in Newbridge. He has published 24 collections of poetry, along with prose works and translations of Greek drama. His poetry had been translated into several languages. He founded The Goldsmith Press in 1972 and edited the arts magazine Era from 1974 to 1984.
He founded the Gerard Manley International Literary Festival in 1987, where he has served as Artistic Director. The festival is a week-long programme celebrating poetry, music, art, philosophy and conservation, with contributors and audiences from Ireland and overseas.
Mr Egan told the Kildare Nationalist: “It's a great honor and one always will consider whether one is worthy of such. But apart from that, it's wonderful after many years to get such recognition. Patrick Kavanagh never really got it. And I don't take it for granted. It's touching and inspiring in its own way.”
Cathaoirleach of the County of Kildare, Cllr Tim Durkan, said of Mr Egan: “Desmond has made an exceptional and lasting contribution to the cultural life of County Kildare”.
The festival runs until Thursday, 30 July at Newbridge College and venues throughout Newbridge. It celebrates the life, poetry and wide-ranging interests of Gerard Manley Hopkins.
Mr Egan also explained the background to the event whilst speaking to the Nationalist: “It began from a reading I was asked to give over in the Venice of Ireland as it's called, Monasterevin. And I told them that Hopkins had connections there, which they hadn't realized. And I said, they said we must develop that”. Hopkins took several trips to stay in Monasterevin and wrote about it in his journals and letters.
Mr Egan continued: “He visited Clongowes Wood many times. He went around the country a lot. He knew plenty about Ireland, and even from his time as a (Jesuit) curate in Liverpool, he had come to know a lot about the Irish and to admire the Irish, he even tried to learn Irish. So it seemed to me that Hopkins' vision was the kind of all-inclusive thing that could inspire us all and that could be developed because the man was a genius.”
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
