The Writing University is heartbroken to hear of the passing of Irish poet Eavan Boland. Boland was a beloved part of the University of Iowa's writing programs and community. She attended the International Writing Program residency in 1979 and became a regular visitor to the University of Iowa and Iowa City in subsequent years. She lectured and taught at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, gave readings from her work at Prairie Lights Bookstore, and was an Ida Beam Distinguished Visiting Professor in 2009.
Boland has published numerous volumes of poetry, as well as volumes of prose. Her books of poetry include Domestic Violence (W. W. Norton & Co., 2007), Against Love Poetry (W. W. Norton & Co., 2001), The Lost Land (1998), An Origin Like Water: Collected Poems 1967–1987 (1996), In a Time of Violence (1994), Outside History: Selected Poems 1980–1990 (1990), The Journey and Other Poems (1986), Night Feed (1982), and In Her Own Image (1980). Boland also wrote two volumes of prose Object Lessons: The Life of the Woman and the Poet in Our Time (W. W. Norton, 1995), and A Journey With Two Maps: Becoming a Woman Poet (W. W. Norton, 2011 and Carcanet Press UK). Boland was the co-editor of The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms (W. W. Norton & Co., 2000).
Her awards include the Lannan Foundation Award in Poetry and an American Ireland Fund Literary Award. She was a member of the Irish Academy of Letters and the advisory board of the International Writers Center at Washington University. She was professor of English at Stanford University and director of the creative writing program.
The University of Iowa has been honored to host Eavan on campus numerous times and to hold a substantial archive of her readings, interviews, live discussions and Q&As. Here is a list of the archives that feature Boland and her magnificent work:
- Eavan Boland and Kevin Casey readings, Prairie Lights Bookstore, 1979
Eavan Boland reads various poems and tells anecdotes about Ireland. She discusses to her soon to be published collection of poems, "In his own image."
- Eavan Boland reading, Live From Prairie Lights, October 12, 2009
Irish writer Eavan Boland, Ida Beam Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Iowa, presents the annual Paul Engle Memorial Reading. Boland, who attended an IWP residency in 1979, has published nine volumes of poetry, as well as two volumes of prose.
- Eavan Boland Q&A session, The University of Iowa, October 13, 2009
Eavan Boland met with Writers' Workshop graduate students at the Dey House Frank Conroy Memorial Reading Room to answer their questions and discuss the process of writing.
- Eavan Boland interview, The University of Iowa, October 15, 2009
With Christopher Merrill and Kiki Petrosino.
- Broadside by Center for the Book of Boland's poem Atlantis - A Lost Sonnet
"Atlantis - A Lost Sonnet" is printed by UICB Printer Sara Langworthy in celebration of poet Eavan Boland's visit to the University of Iowa as an Ida Beam Distinguished Visiting Professor in October 2009. Boland began her visit to Iowa City by reading in the Shambaugh Auditorium as the featured guest for a public reading in honor of Paul Engle.
- Live Discussion with Eavan Boland online, October 14, 2009
The Writing University website hosted an online chat with Irish poet Eavan Boland at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009. Boland discussed poetry, writing in an international community, as well as other literary topics.