Call Number:

C1641

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

51 boxes

Language:

English

Date:

1968-2019 (bulk) and 1899-2019 (inclusive)

Creator:

McCarthy, Thomas, 1954-

Form:

Correspondence -- 20th century, Diaries -- 20th century., and Drafts (documents) -- 20th century.

Abstract:

Consists of writings, diaries, correspondence, organizational records, clippings, and other personal papers of Irish poet Thomas McCarthy, including drafts of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction works from the 1970s through the 2010s; extensive diaries and notebooks on personal and literary topics; files related to his work with Cork 2005, the Triskel Arts Centre, and other cultural and arts organizations in Ireland; transcriptions and recordings of interviews and events; and teaching materials.

Thomas McCarthy is an Irish poet, novelist, literary critic, and librarian whose writings engage with themes of love, family, memory, and 20th century Irish politics. McCarthy was born in Cappoquin, a small town in County Waterford, Ireland, in 1954. He was educated at University College Cork in the 1970s, where he studied with John Montague (1929-2016) and became part of a movement of young poets that included Gregory O'Donoghue, Sean Dunne, William Wall, Maurice Riordan, Gerry Murphy, Greg Delanty, and Theo Dorgan.

McCarthy's published collections of poetry include The First Convention (Dolmen Press, 1978), The Sorrow Garden (Anvil Press 1981), The Non-Aligned Storyteller (Anvil, 1984), Seven Winters in Paris (Anvil Press, 1989), Lost Province (Anvil Press, 1996), Mr. Dineen's Careful Parade (Anvil Press 1999), Merchant Prince (Anvil Press, 2005), The Last Geraldine Officer (Anvil Press, 2009), Pandemonium (Carcanet Press, 2016), and Prophecy (Carcanet Press, 2019). He has also published two novels, Without Power (Poolbeg Press, 1991) and Asya and Christine (Poolbeg Press, 1992); and two works of non-fiction, Gardens of Remembrance (New Island Books, 1996) and Out of the Ashes (Cork City Libraries, 2006). His work has also been published in numerous journals in both Ireland and abroad, and his poems have been featured in dozens of anthologies of Irish poetry, including The Penguin Book of Contemporary Irish Poetry (Penguin, 1991) and An Anthology of Irish Poetry (Harvard University Press, 2013), among others.

McCarthy has been actively involved the Irish poetry community for much of his career, including as a member of Aosdána, the Irish assembly of writers and artists, and as an editor of Poetry Ireland Review (1984-1985) and The Cork Review (1993, 1999-2000). His poetry has garnered the Patrick Kavanagh Award (1977), the Alice Hunt Bartlett Prize (1981), the Ireland Funds Annual Literary Award (1984), and the O'Shaughnessy Prize for Poetry (1991). McCarthy has also been an Honorary Fellow of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa (1978-1979) and Poet-in-Residence at the American Conference on Irish Studies (University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, 2018).

In addition to working for many years as a librarian at Cork City Libraries beginning in 1978, McCarthy has also taught poetry and literature as Humphrey Professor of English at Macalester College in Minnesota from 1994-1995, and led poetry workshops at the Arvon Foundation (Lumb Bank), Listowel Writers' Week, Molly Keane House, and Portlaoise Prison (Provisional IRA Wing). He also served for three years as the assistant director of Cork 2005, the company responsible for managing Cork's designation as a European Capital of Culture.

In 1982, McCarthy married writer and educator Catherine Coakley, with whom he has two children.

The collection consists of Thomas McCarthy's writings, personal and literary diaries, correspondence, records from work with various arts and cultural heritage organizations, clippings and printed materials, transcriptions and recordings of interviews and events, and files related to creative writing instruction. Materials span from McCarthy's years as a student in the early 1970s through the close of the 2010s; they document his career as a poet, novelist, nonfiction writer, and editor, and to a lesser extent his work as an arts administrator, teacher, and librarian.

McCarthy's writings include handwritten and typescript drafts, proofs, galleys, and cover designs for his published works organized by book, as well as chronological poetry notebooks in which he composed early drafts and recorded notes from his research. The writings are accompanied by copious source materials, including clippings, documents, photographs, and memorabilia, which reflect his use of Irish history and politics as content and background for his work. In addition to McCarthy's poetry, fiction, and nonfiction books, there are draft materials related to film and play treatments, reviews and short essays, as well as a small number of writings by others for projects he supported. The collection also contains an extensive series of personal and literary diaries spanning five decades, which contain McCarthy's reflections on his life, as well as his commentary on contemporary politics, literature, and other topics. His correspondence also documents both professional and personal matters and includes correspondence with a number of Irish poets and writers, including Seamus Heaney, Molly Keane, Thomas Kinsella, Desmond O'Grady, Dennis O'Driscoll, Theo Dorgan, and dozens of others.

The collection also includes records McCarthy kept from his work with various arts and cultural heritage organizations, including Cork 2005, where he was the assistant director on a project to manage Cork's designation as a European Capital of Culture, and the Triskel Arts Centre in Cork, where he was the director from 1997 to 2003. There are also files on his role as a literary editor for Stet, Poetry Ireland, and Cork Review; projects related to Cork City Libraries; and his membership in Aosdána, an Irish association of artists. Other materials documenting McCarthy's professional career include recordings, transcripts, and publicity materials for interviews and events and a small number of teaching materials from creative writing workshops he taught. There is also a group of clippings, scrapbooks, printed materials, and other items that McCarthy collected documenting his own career, as well as Irish literature, history, and politics more broadly. These materials include additional research for his writings along with some personal photographs and papers.