Mark Roper was born in England in 1951, moving to Ireland in 1980, since when he has lived at Tobernabrone, Co. Kilkenny. His poetry collections include The Hen Ark (1991), which won the 1992 Aldeburgh Prize for best first collection, Catching The Light (1997), The Home Fire (1998) and Whereabouts (2005). He was Editor of Poetry Ireland Review for 1999. An experienced Creative Writing teacher, he currently works in adult education in Waterford and Kilkenny and has run courses and workshops in schools, prisons and senior citizen centres. Even So: New & Selected Poems (Dedalus Press, 2008) confirms him as “one of the most accomplished and engaging poets writing in Ireland at present” (Bill Tinley, Irish Literary Supplement).
READ three poems from A Gather of Shadow (2012)
