John Ennis
. . . the best of Ennis . . . is a rich and rewarding experience. He leaves many other poets looking watery and confined to limited forms, like people who never stir out of the house.
— Seán Dunne, Cork Examiner
John Ennis was born in County Westmeath in 1944. He is a graduate of University College, Cork and Dublin.
The Gallery Press published his early collections: Night on Hibernia (1976), Dolmen Hill (1977), A Drink of Spring (1979) and The Burren Days (1985). He won the Patrick Kavanagh Award in 1975 and in 1996 the Irish American Cultural Institute Award.
He lives in Waterford where he was, until 2009, head of the School of Humanities at Waterford Institute of Technology, where he was also Chair of the Centre for Newfoundland and Labrador Studies.
He remains creatively active, his work appearing recently in Poetry Ireland Review, The Stinging Fly, Riddle Fence, Outburst, New Hibernia Review, The Burning Bush, The Clifden Anthology, Boyne Berries and Catechism: Poems for Pussy Riot.
While retired from Education, Ennis is an activist and has been green-starred for his contribution to Amnesty International. He divides his time between Waterford and his native Westmeath.
