A new book compiled by friends of the widely admired Irish writer Philip Casey, is set to launch in a Dublin bookshop this week.
An Anthology will launch this Thursday at 6.30pm in Book Upstairs on D’Olier Street, honouring the much-loved poet, author and Aosdána member who died in 2018.
The tribute comprises over 60 contributors praising Philip’s gifts in poetry and fiction, along with their personal admiration for him as an individual.
Cherished by many for his “tenderness, fortitude, hope and tenacity”, he was an award-winning novelist, admired poet, and a vital presence on the Irish literary scene for over four decades.
Originally from Co Wexford, he published five poetry collections and wrote the Bann River Trilogy of novels. The first of these, The Fabulists, received the inaugural Listowel Novel of the Year Award in 1995.
It still remains “the most evocative picture of love on the dole in 1990s Dublin”. He also wrote a children’s novel, The Coupla, based on Irish folklore.
Katie Donovan, one of the book’s three editors along with Eamon Wall and Michael Considine, has been organising and liaising with contributors who have sent in their “wonderful work”.
She also thanked Books Upstairs, describing it as a “special indie bookshop on D’Olier Street” where Philip was a valued and loved customer.
“It has been a two-year process of many Zoom calls, flurries of emails, excitement, debate and determination,” she said.
The book will also be launched by poet Terry McDonagh in Gorey library at 7pm this evening, recognising Philip’s roots on a farm in nearby Hollyfort which inspired many of his early poems.
Ms Donovan, originally from Camolin in Co Wexford, participated in the Gorey Arts Festivals of the late ‘70s and ‘80s with Philip and the other two editors.
“These festivals, presided over by artist Paul Funge and poet James Liddy, were wonderfully boho affairs in what was then a small and sleepy rural town,” she said.
“It was very exciting to be a part of such an exotic scene if you were a budding teenage poet, like me.
“I am looking forward to both launches, as an opportunity to celebrate a unique and much-loved writer, whose work deserves to be remembered, and whose loyal friendship meant the world to me, as it did to so many.
“Philip lived life to the full, and although we miss him every day, his example of how to thrive in spite of any adversity life throws at you is a guiding light that never dims.”
Alan Hayes, of publisher Arlen House, added: “Philip Casey gave so much to Irish society for over 40 years through his writing, his activism and his passion for the arts.
“Now we honour him and his life in this heartfelt, powerful anthology of 60 prominent names in Irish literature which Arlen House is privileged to publish.”
Two amputations of parts of the same leg meant that Philip battled pain for decades but managed to stay an integral part of Dublin life, turning up beaming at events, using a succession of ever more colorful crutches.
He was, in the words of the poet Theo Dorgan, “some man for one man”.
Philip quietly lived and welcomed many to his tiny Victorian terraced house in East Arran Street in the heart of Dublin.
His friends will also celebrate this week “how special and welcoming he made his tiny home on the quays”, and remember their friend as being “a beacon of light and his small quayside house as an ark”.
This Thursday, many of his friends like Sebastian Barry, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Paula Meehan and Thomas Lynch, who is flying from the US, will come together to launch the book of their memories and “his great gift of friendship”.
