Frank McGuinness was born in County Donegal in 1953 and now lives in Dublin. He was educated locally and at University College Dublin, where he studied Pure English and Medieval Studies.

His plays include The Factory Girls, Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, Mutabilitie, Gates of Gold, There Came a Gypsy Riding and Dolly West’s Kitchen. He has adapted works of Lorca, Chekhov, Brecht, Strindberg, Pirandello and Sophocles. His version of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House won a ‘Tony’ award in 1997.  

The Gallery Press has published his four collections of poetry — Booterstown (1994), The Sea with No Ships (1999) The Stone Jug (2003), Dulse (2007) and In a Town of Five Thousand People (2012).

Frank McGuinness previously lectured in Linguistics and Drama at the University of Ulster, Medieval Studies at University College, Dublin and English at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth.

A member of Aosdána, Frank McGuinness is Professor of Creative Writing in UCD.

Videos

‘Rooms in Denmark’ from In a Town of Five Thousand People (2012)
‘Fists’ from The Stone Jug (2003)
‘My Lover’s Heart Compared to the Golden Gate Bridge’
from The Sea with No Ships (1999)
‘The Palm of His Hand‘ from Booterstown (1994)