John Montague

Born in New York of Irish parents, John Montague grew up in rural County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. He studied at University College Dublin, Yale University and the University of California at Berkeley. He spent many years living in France and has taught at various universities in the United States. Montague returned to Ireland in 1972 and lectured at University College, Cork. His poetry collections include Forms of Exile (1958), The Rough Field (1972), which was performed with music by the Chieftains at the Peacock Theatre and Carnac (1999), a translation of work by the French poet Guillevic. His Collected Poems appeared in 1995 and has been followed by Selected Poems in 2000. Montague is the author of several collections of short stories and has written a novella, The Lost Notebook, winner of the 1987 Hughes Award, and a memoir, Company (2000). He has received the Marten Toonder Award in 1977, a Guggenheim fellowship in 1980, and the Ireland Funds Literary Award in 1995. A member of Aosdána, John Montague was the first Ireland Professor of Poetry from 1998 to 2001.