The poet, novelist and playwright Dermot Bolger (whose latest novels are Tanglewood and The Lonely Sea and Sky and whose adaptation of Joyce’s Ulysses will be staged by the Abbey Theatre this autumn) has long been a champion and admirer of the work of Francis Ledwidge. He is the editor of the recently republished Francis Ledwidge: Selected Poems, for which he also wrote a lengthy personal afterword describing the influence of Ledwidge on his own life and work. His play Walking the Road is a reimagining of Ledwidge’s life. Dermot will talk about the short life and poetry of the Meath-born Great War casualty a few weeks before the centenary of his death.
