For 23 years, the University of St. Thomas' Center for Irish Studies has honored an Irish poet annually with a reception, a reading and an award. This year, Dublin poet Patrick Deeley will be the recipient of the Lawrence O'Shaughnessy Award for Poetry. Deeley is the author of seven collections and has won many prizes, including the inaugural Dermot Healy International Poetry Prize. The first chapters of his 2016 memoir, "The Hurley Maker's Son," were published in the New Hibernia Review, the journal of St. Thomas' Irish Studies Department. He'll discuss the memoir at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Celtic Junction, 836 Prior Av., St. Paul; he'll be in conversation about his works at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Merriam Park Public Library in St. Paul, and he'll read his poetry at 7 p.m. Friday at St. Thomas. All events are free and open to the public and will be conducted in Deeley's lovely Irish brogue.
LAURIE HERTZEL