O Westport in the Light of Asia Minor Book

O Westport in the Light of Asia Minor was first published in a tiny edition in Dublin in 1975. Paul Durcan's first published in a tiny edition in Dublin in 1975. Paul Durcan's first full-fledged collection displays an astonishingly mature visionary power. Shot through with the surrealism and heart-breaking comedy that have since become his hallmark, O Westport in the Light of Asia Minor won him the prestigious Patrick Kavanagh Award (1975).Writing in the first issue of the influential Irish Cyphers, the English poet David Wright remarked: "This is the real thing. One can't say more, or less, than that. Durcan's Poems affect me with the same amalgamations of recognition and insight—as revelations of what one knows without knowing it, concurrent testimonies as it were—that I find in the work of Patrick Kavanagh. It's a long time since I've felt so excited about a new poet." Read More