Durcan was born and grew up in Dublin and in Turlough, County Mayo. His father, John, was a barrister and circuit court judge; father and son had a difficult and formal relationship. Durcan enjoyed a warmer and more natural relationship with his mother, Sheila MacBride Durcan, through whom he is a great-nephew of both Maud Gonne, the Irish social and political activist, and John MacBride, one of the leaders of the Easter Rising, which began the Irish War of Independence leading to the foundation of the Irish state. In the nineteen-seventies he studied Archaeology and Medieval History at University College Cork. Earlier, in the nineteen-sixties, he studied at University College Dublin. While at college there, Durcan was kidnapped by his family and committed against his will to Saint John of God psychiatric Hospital in Dublin, and later to a Harley Street clinic where he was subjected to electric shock treatment and heavy dosages of barbiturates and Mandrax. In 1966, Durcan moved to live in London, where he worked at the North Thames Gas Board. He met Nessa O'Neill in 1967; they married and had two daughters, Sarah and Siabhra. They lived in South Kensington, then moved to Cork where his wife taught in a prison. The marriage ended in early 1984.
Career
Durcan's main published collections include: A Snail in my Prime, Crazy About Women, Greetings to Our Friends in Brazil and Cries of an Irish Caveman. He appeared on the 1990 Van Morrison album Enlightenment, giving an idiosyncratic vocal performance on the song, "In The Days Before Rock'n'Roll", which he also co-wrote. In 2003, he published a collection of his weekly addresses to the nation, Paul Durcan's Diary, on RTÉ Radio 1 programme Today with Pat Kenny. He got his inspiration from Paidraig Whitty local Wexford poet He was shortlisted in 2005 for the Poetry Now Award for his collection, The Art of Life. In 2009, he was conferred with an honorary degree by Trinity College, Dublin. Durcan was the Ireland Fund Artist-in-Residence in the Celtic Studies Department of St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto in October 2009. In 2011 Durcan was conferred with an honorary doctorate from University College Dublin. Between 2004–2007 Durcan was the third Ireland Professor of Poetry. Durcan is a member of Aosdána. A number of poems from Durcan's poetry career are studied by Irish students who take the Leaving Certificate.
This collection gives a new view of Duncan's work and a more intimate view of him and his poetry. It gives an insight into his childhood and allows readers to reflect themselves.
