Terry McDonagh taught creative writing at Hamburg University and was Drama Director at the International School Hamburg. He has published ten poetry collections as well as letters, drama, prose and poetry for young people. His work has been translated into German and Indonesian, and has been published worldwide in anthologies and literary journals. He has read at and facilitated workshops in Europe, Asia and Australia. He was Artistic Director of WestWords, the first Irish literature festival in Hamburg in May 2017. Further info can be found on his website: www.terry-mcdonagh.com.

Publications:

2018: Fourth Floor Flat – poetry – publisher Arlen House.

2017: Included in ‘Fire and Ice’ – Gill Education – poetry for Junior Cycle Secondary Schools.

2017: ‘UCG by Degrees’ – a poem unveiled at NUIGalway as part of Cuirt Festival and Galway Poetry Trail.

2016: Lady Cassie Peregrine – poetry – publisher, Arlen House.

2015: Mayo poet for Mayo Day, Sky TV.

2015: Translation by Terry McDonagh of Hemingway biography, Wie Alles Begann, into English – German author, Gino Leineweber.

2015: Echolocation – poetry for young people – Blaupause Books Hamburg.

2014: Michel the Merman: a tale based on North Sea legends.

2013: Ripple Effect – poetry – Arlen House, Galway.

2012: In the light of Bridges: Hamburg Fragments – prose/poetry

2011: The Truth in Mustard – poetry – Arlen House, Galway.

2009: Cill Aodáin & Nowhere Else – poetry – Mayo Co. Council.

2009: One Summer in Ireland – prose – Ernst Klett Verlag.

2008: Twelve Strange Songs – twelve poems by Terry McDonagh, put to music for voice and string quartet by Eberhard Reichel.

2006: Boxes – poetry – Blaupause Books

2004 Something beginning with P– anthology of children’s poetry – O’Brien Press and Poetry Ireland.

2004: Tiada Tempat di Rawa – poetry translated into Indonesian by INDONESIA TERA, Magelang, Jogyakarta.

2001: Kiltimagh – poetry in translation by Mirko Bonne (English/German) Blaupause

1999: Elbe Letters go West (English/German) – a collection of letters – Blaupause.

1998: A World Without Stone – poetry – Blaupause Hamburg.

1992: The Road Out – poetry – Olaf Hille Verlag.

1991: Ich kann das alles erklären – drama – Karin Fischer Verlag.

Examples of readings/residencies:

In Australia, The Middle East, Indonesia, Thailand; in several European countries; Coole Park; Belfast Libraries; Wigtown Festival Scotland; Ballina Over the Edge; Clifden Arts Festival; NuiGalway; Cuisle Limerick; Eigenarten Festival Hamburg; Artistic Director of In Sight of Raftery Festival, Kiltimagh; Co Mayo. Dublin Book Festival; Irish Embassy Berlin; Clare Co. Libraries; Robert Burns Museum Ayrshire, Scotland; Cologne festival for young people with Children's Books Ireland and Poetry Ireland; workshops at the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, based on KPS system of education in Ireland between 1811 and 1831; writer in Residence in Melbourne, Australia at Caulfield Grammar, Irish Studies, University of Melbourne and RMIT; RTE Radio Drama (Junior) as narrator and voice; facilitated 'Samhain' creative writing programme with Museum of Country Life, Turlough and National Museum of Ireland, Dublin; Dublin Book Festival; 'Write to Read' programme with St Patrick's Teacher Training Dublin; Galway 2020 Culture Capital application, writing programme with Galway Co. Co and Baboro, Galway; Clifden Arts Festival residencies; Mayo Co. Libraries residencies; creative writing/drama workshops for European Council of International Schools in Nice, Paris, Hamburg, Berlin; Bonn, London, Dublin, West of Ireland, Brussels, Belfast, Stuttgart, Budapest and Kuwait city, Indonesia, Thailand; Dramatising Poetry – Workshops for Drama/literature teachers in Shakespeare Centre, Stratford upon Avon; Ubud/Bali International Writers Festival, and readings/lectures at Universitas Sanata Dhama, Yogyakarta, Indonesia; workshops with Piper Diarmaid Moynihan on poetry and piping in Galway, Coole Park, The Dock, Carrick on Shannon and Ballina Arts Centre; creative writing/drama programme in Dubai/Abu Dhabi with Beacon Schools; creative writing workshops with AGIS, Association of German International Schools; Education Centre Sligo; JCSP secondary teachers in Dublin; Brandenburg International School; Irish Embassy Berlin.

Some Impressions:

  • With his poetry, Terry McDonagh builds a language bridge between Hamburg and Ireland... Hamburger Abendblatt   
     
  • These poems are about the really important things in life that children see with such honesty. It is a world of daydreams and wonder, but also about misfits like ‘Tone Deaf Peter’ who are happy to sing their own song. McDonagh’s poetry will make you laugh, celebrate silliness and remember the freedom that comes with imagination. The poetry is like a sweet revenge on all those who love rules for their own sake…Geoffrey Gates, novelist, Sydney.
     
  • Terry McDonagh is no stranger to the world of literacy and education, having organised and presented creative writing and drama workshops, in-service for teachers and readings for children and adults all over Ireland in recent years. Helen Walsh, County Librarian, Co. Clare, Ireland.
     
  • A Song for Joanna is so successfully lodged in the particularities of Australia – its vibrancy, variety, expanse of sky and land, its mixed cultures and Aboriginal origins – that, returning from a trip to Ireland and filled with longing for it, I fell back in love with my own country. And through it all, the blue-green talisman of love...Robyn Rowland, Australian poet
     
  • A hilarious one about head lice. Yes, head lice!’ Terry McDonagh shows that even these can be a topic for a poem…Gordon Snell, Irish Times.
     
  • As a suite of poems, A Song for Joanna offers many pleasures; it is in part a series of cinematic skills, an aide-memoire, a dialogue between two worlds and a series of letters home, the vivid impressions of a painterly intelligence, whose keen powers of observation trace the author’s tenure as writer in and residence in Australia – Homer Rieth, Australian poet.
     
  • McDonagh’s poetry is characterized by richness of colour and precision – the trademark of the born poet. In his clear, simple style he invites us into a world in which we can learn more about ourselves...Hamburg International Poetry Festival Programme.
     
  • A stroke of luck to find a poet who is not only a good poet but also a good reader. Terry McDonagh’s poetry grows out of everyday situations but his thoughts and observations do not remain on the everyday surface...Kieler Nachrichten, Germany.
     
  • Here are poems of thresholds: the pub, church, graveyard, shopdoor, a bus stop in Hamburg. There is pathos, irony and social comment in a voice that is accessible and fond. “I can live anywhere, I think...   Meg McNeill, Tintean, Melbourne.
     
  • Terry McDonagh certainly keeps the bardic tradition of Ireland to the fore in all his poetry. Above all else, the humour in this intelligent collection, BOXES, rises like cream to the top…Colette Nic Aodha ...Inis, The Irish Literary Magazine.