Mark Roper

Mark Roper’s latest collection Bindweed, Dedalus Press (2017), was shortlisted for The Irish Times Poetry Now Award. A Gather of Shadow (2012) was also shortlisted for that Award. It won the Michael Hartnett Award in 2014. With photographer Paddy Dwan, he has published The River Book and The Backstrand. Their book about the Comeragh Mountains will be published in Autumn 2018. He has written librettos for two operas composed by Eric Sweeney. Mark was Editor of Poetry Ireland for 1999. He was the recipient of Arts Council Bursaries in 2010, 2013 and 2016. A highly experienced Creative Writing teacher, Mark has run courses and workshops in many different settings, including schools, prisons, and senior citizen centres. From September 2002 to May 2003 he was writer-in-residence at Waterford Regional Hospital. Since 2004, he has been a poetry mentor for the MFA in Creative Writing graduate program of Carlow University, Pittsburgh, a dual residency program in the U.S. and Ireland.