Kinsella, Thomas, 1928-2021

Thomas Kinsella was born on May 4, 1928, in Inchicore, outside Dublin, Ireland to John Paul and Agnes (Casserly) Kinsella. He earned a diploma in public administration from University College Dublin and entered the Irish civil service in 1946, writing poetry in his spare time. During this period he met three people who influenced much of his life: Eleanor Walsh, a radiology student, whom he married in 1955; Liam Miller, publisher at Dolmen Press; and the composer Seán Ó Riada. Thomas and Ellen had three children: Sara, John, and Mary. His first poetry pamphlet, The Starlit Eye (1952), was published by Dolmen Press, as was Poems (1956), his first book-length publication. In 1965, he moved to the United States to take a position as poet-in-residence at Southern Illinois University. In 1967, he became a Professor of English at Temple University, where he remained for twenty years. Kinsella published more than 30 volumes of poetry, winning several awards, and also wrote critical works and translated four volumes of poetry from Gaelic, notably The Táin (Dolmen Press, 1969), in a collaboration with the artist Louis le Brocquy. In 1972, Kinsella founded Peppercanister Press, named after the local nickname for a church near his home in Dublin, to publish his own work. Kinsella returned to Dublin after he retired from academia. He received the honorary Freedom of the City of Dublin in May 2007, and an honorary doctorate from Trinity College Dublin in December 2018. Kinsella died on December 22, 2021.