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Irish-language poet Derry O'Sullivan dies in Paris
Irish-language poet Derry O'Sullivan has died in Paris aged 81.
Originally from west Cork, he had been living in Paris for many years.
Mr O'Sullivan published three poetry collections in Irish - Cá bhfuil do Iúdás? (1987); Cá bhfuil Tiarna Talún l'Univers? (1994); and An bhfuil cead agam dul amach, más é do thoil é? (2009), as well as An Lá go dTáinig Siad (2005), a long poem about the Nazi takeover of Paris in 1940.
A collection of his poems in French was published as En Mal de Fleurs in 1988.
He also published the first direct translation into French of the 10th-Century Irish poem An Chailleach Bhéarra in collaboration with Jean-Yves Bériou and Martine Joulia.
An English translation by Kaarina Hollo of his poem Marbhghin 1943: Glaoch ar Liombó ('Stillborn 1943: Calling Limbo') won the 2012 Times Stephen Spender Prize for poetry translation.
Mr O'Sullivan was born in Bantry in 1944.
After studying Latin, Greek and Philosophy in University College Cork, he spent several years as a Capuchin monk. In 1969, he was ordained a priest and sent to Paris, although he left the priesthood a year later.
He taught English at the Sorbonne, the Institut Catholique de Paris and the Institut Supérieur d'Electronique de Paris.
He was also a senior examiner for the International Baccalaureate and was among the founders of the Festival Franco-Anglais de Poésie.
He is predeceased by his wife Jean, and is survived by his son Dekin and daughters Isolde and Derval.
