Patrick Kavanagh came into this world on the 21st October 1904 in Mucker townland, Iniskeen parish, County Monaghan. He had 9 siblings, and his parents were James Kavanagh and Bridget Quinn. James Kavanagh made shoes and also farmed a few acres of land. Following Patrick’s schooling in Kednaminsha National School he left, at thirteen years old to work on the family farm. ...
A Hindi poet, author and specialist in comedy and satire, Ashok Chakradhar was born in February 1951 and has developed his craft to a high standard. Little exists in English on the Internet about his background but it is believed that he is related to Kaka Hathrasi, a noted Hindi poet. He is married to Kaka’s niece. Educated well, he has pursued a ...
Synonymous with the Great War, poet Siegfried Sassoon was born in 1886 in Kent, England, and went on to epitomize the essence of the anti-war poet. Sassoon came from a well-to-do family, a father who came from a Jewish merchant family and a mother who was Catholic and part of an artistic family, the Thorneycrofts. Theirs was not a happy relationship, ...
Octavio Paz, renowned poet, writer and essayist, was born in Mixcoac – now Mexico City – on 31st March 1914. His mother was Josefina Lozano and his father was Octavio Paz Solorzano, also a writer and an active supporter of the Mexican Revolution. His grandfather was a novelist and publisher and young Octavio, by virtue of access to his grandfather’s extensive library, ...
Born in New Mexico in 1952, Jimmy Santiago Baca was brought up by his own grandmother after his abandonment by his parents but was then taken to an orphanage from where he ran away at the age of thirteen. He lived rough on the street for a while then in 1973 he was arrested and convicted of ...
Born in Southampton in 1674, Isaac Watts was famous for writing many of the hymns we know and love today. To some, he is considered the father of hymnody in England, a theologian and logician but also a non-conformist whose hymns are still sung today and have been translated into many languages across the world. He was reputedly nursed on the steps ...
Born in 1850 in St Louis, American writer Eugene Field was most well-known for his children’s poetry and as a witty essayist. He was barely 6 years old when his mother passed away and he was brought up by a cousin in Massachusetts. His father was a lawyer and most notably responsible for representing Dred Scott, a slave who sued for ...
Narsinh Mehta is the very first historical poet-saint of Gujarat, India. Mehta was born in the ancient town of Talaja, before moving to be within a Vaishnava Brahmin community. He had a difficult childhood; losing his Mother at the tender age of five and being cared for by his Grandmother. He was unable to speak until the age of eight, and was very ...
The greatest ambition of the prominent poet, Du Fu, was to serve China as a civil servant. The 755 ‘An Lushan Rebellion’ prevented this from happening, by causing much devastation to the country - with more than a decade of constant unrest to follow. Du Fu took to poetry with a natural, almost extraordinary, talent and since his first published ...
American poet and novelist, Kenneth Patchen, was largely self-taught and never seemed to gain widespread recognition from the prominent literary critics or university professors of his generation. One review regarding Patchen, from the New York Times Book Review said that whilst some critics are inclined to dismiss the work of Kenneth Patchen as naive, capricious, romantic and concerned with many ...
