James Harpur

James Harpur has published eight collections of poetry and one of translation (Fortune’s Prisoner, the poems of Boethius) with Anvil Press, Carcanet and Two Rivers Press. James’s The Examined Life (2021) received the Vincent Buckley Poetry Prize. His The White Silhouette (2018) was an Irish Times Book of the Year. Angels and Harvesters (2012) was a PBS Recommendation; The Dark Age (2007) won the Michael Hartnett Poetry Prize; Oracle Bones (2001) was a Tablet Book of the Year. His debut novel, The Pathless Country (2021) won the JG Farrell Prize and was shortlisted for the John McGahern Prize.

He is a member of Aosdána, the Irish academy of the arts. He studied Classics and English at university and has taught English in Crete and worked as a lexicographer and freelance writer and reviewer.

Praise for Harpur’s work:

The Examined Life:

‘This collection is quite brilliant.’ Dublin Review of Books

‘A serious success.’ The Spectator

The Oratory of Light:

‘This collection … is like a miraculous vision in itself.’ Agenda

‘A deeply affecting collection even for a reader without religious faith.’ The New European.

The White Silhouette:

‘An outstanding collection.’ Acumen

‘A triumph of contemporary poetry.’ Poetry Ireland Review

‘Harpur’s craft is both beautiful and subtle.’ World Literature Today

The Pathless Country:

‘It is Harpur’s lyricism and eye for details that makes this such a compelling read … The Pathless Country is a triumph …’ Sunday Business Post