James Harpur

James Harpur has published twelve poetry collections and is a member of Aosdána, the Irish academy of arts. He has won a number of awards for his poetry, including the 1995 UK National Poetry Competition, the Michael Hartnett Prize, a Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh Fellowship, an Eric Gregory Award, and the Vincent Buckley Prize. His books include The  Magic Theatre (2025), The Gospel of Gargoyle (2024), and The Examined Life (2021), an odyssey through boarding school. His debut novel, The Pathless Country (2021), a historical drama set during the time of the 1916 Easter Rising and inspired by the works of J. Krishnamurti, was winner of the J.G. Farrell Prize and shortlisted for the John McGahern Prize. His non-fiction includes Dazzling Darkness: the Lives and Afterlives of the Christian Mystics (2025).

He is a Visiting Research Fellow and the inaugural Visiting Writer at the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Trinity College, Dublin. He lives in West Cork.