MACDARA WOODS was born in Dublin in 1942 and has published a number of collections with the Dedalus Press including his Selected Poems (1996) and The Nightingale Water and Knowledge in the Blood (2002). His work has been translated widely, into some 12 languages, and has has been set to music and perfomed by artists such as Anuna and Bonita Hill. A member of Aosdána, the Irish Arts Council's affiliation which recognises outstanding contributions to the arts in Ireland, Woods is also one of the founder editors of the long-running literary journal Cyphers, along with poets Pearse Hutchinson, Leland Bardwell, and his wife the poet Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin

‘The curt, abbreviated pressure of these lines, a constant trait in the work of Macdara Woods, pushes the text out to demand a co-creative act of reading' -- Brian Coates reviewing The Nightingale Water and Knowledge in the Blood, Poetry Ireland Review

"This is language raised, like prayer and other holy forms, to be instructive, healing, memorable and accurate. In the performance of these duties, Macdara Woods is among the most trustworthy, his voice among the most engaging, his contribution among the permanent"—Thomas Lynch