Dónall Dempsey

was born in the Curragh of Kildare, Ireland, and was Ireland’s first Poet in Residence in a secondary school. He moved to London in the 1980s where he completed his university degree. In August 2011, he was invited to read his poetry in Edinburgh, Scotland, and in 2012, he was featured at the St. Clementin Bilingual Bilateral Festival in France. In 2012–13 he published two collections of poems, Sifting Sound into Shape and Being Dragged Across the Carpet by the Cat. His most recent collection, The Smell of Purple was launched at the 2014 Delhi Poetry Festival. He hosts a successful monthly performance poetry night in Guildford, Surrey, UK, where he now lives.