Daniel Mulhall, who has maintained a long-term interest in AE’s life and work, will assess his contribution to the shaping of modern Ireland, as a cultural nationalist, an advocate of agricultural co-operation and an editor of two influential journals.
Daniel Mulhall has a lifelong interest in Irish history and literature. He is co-editor with Eugenio Biagini of The Shaping of Modern Ireland: a centenary assessment which was published in 2016. He has held a variety of posts within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and is currently Ireland’s Ambassador in London.
George William Russell:
George Russell (AE), poet, painter, mystic and prominent public figure during the opening decades of the 20th century, was born in Lurgan, Co. Armagh on 10 April 1867. He became a leading figure in the Irish literary revival of the 1890s and was involved with W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory in setting up the Abbey Theatre in 1904. From his editorial desk at the Irish Homestead (1905-1923) and the Irish Statesman (1923-1930, AE observed such dramatic events as the Dublin lock-out of 1913, the First World War, the Easter Rising and its aftermath, the Irish Convention of 1917-1918 in which he participated, the war of independence, the civil war and the formative years of the Irish Free State. No writer of literary merit maintained such an intensive engagement with the Ireland of his time. His work offers a unique perspective on that transformative era in Irish history.
To commemorate the 150th anniversary of A.E.’s birth, Swan River Press will reissue Selected Poems which was originally published in September 1935, just two months after his death.
Daniel Mulhall has contributed the biographical afterword to this edition.
