John F. Deane was born on Achill Island, off the west coast of Ireland. He is the founder of Poetry Ireland--the National Poetry Society--and of The Poetry Ireland Review, in 1978. He is also founder and first editor of The Dedalus Press. His poetry has been translated into many languages and has won several Irish and International Prizes. He is the recipient of the O'Shaughnessy Award for Irish Poetry and the Marten Toonder Award for Literature. He has been shortlisted for the Irish Times Poetry Now Award and for the T.S. Eliot Prize.