Padraic Fiacc

Born Patrick Joseph O'Connor in Belfast to Bernard and Annie (née McGarry) O'Connor, Fiacc's father was a bartender who left for the United States when Fiacc was very young. Fiacc resided with his maternal grandparents, who had recently moved to the Markets area of South Belfast after their home in Lisburn was burned by anti-Catholic rioters. His family emigrated to the United States in the late 1920s and he grew up in Hell's Kitchen, New York City. He returned to Belfast in 1946, where he lived for four years before returning to New York in 1950. The multicultural influences as well as the poverty and violence of the neighbourhood impacted Fiacc's outlook and writing, especially his early work. He attended Commerce High School and later transferred to Haaren High School to learn Latin. While at school, he produced several original plays and his first collection of poetry titled Innisfail Lost. The poems were reviewed by Padraic Colum, who became a mentor to Fiacc, directing him away from themes of immigration to America and encouraging him to write about Irish history. Fiacc had developed a distaste for America as well as a longing for Ireland as he dug deeper into its history and literary styles. He then attended St. Joseph's Seraphic Seminary and later studied with the Irish Capuchin Order from 1941–44. His main reasons for leaving the path to priesthood were his lack of discipline and longing for a freer existence.

Upon leaving the seminary, to avoid signing up for military service, he returned to Belfast in 1946. He lived there for four years, during which time his poetry was published in several magazines and the 1948 volume of New Irish Poets. Fiacc was the youngest poet in that edition. Publications of Fiacc's work from this time were found in Irish Bookman, The Irish Times, Poetry Ireland, and Rann. In 1952, upon the death of his mother, Fiacc returned to New York to look after his father and his younger sister Mary. It was during this time that he met his soon-to-be wife Nancy, who had read and enjoyed some of his early writings in New Irish Poets (Devin-Adair, 1948). Fiacc returned to Belfast, marrying Nancy in Holy Cross church, Ardoyne, in 1956. They settled in Glengormley, a suburb six miles north of Belfast, where they had a baby girl in 1962. While there, Fiacc published his second collection of poetry By The Black Stream (Dolmen Press, 1969). Odour of Blood, published by Goldsmith Press, followed in 1973. This was the first of many anti-war poems by Padraic Fiacc. The Wearing of the Black (1974) was his edited collection of poetry by himself and his contemporaries, exploring issues of the conflict in Northern Ireland. The collection included poets from Ireland, the US, and the UK, of various ages, political backgrounds, and experiences: a bishop, teachers, academics, students, senior civil servant Norman Dugdale, established poets such as Seamus Heaney and Michael Longley; and young aspiring poets like Brendan Hamill and Gerard McLaughlin. Some felt threatened by The Wearing of the Black and tried to discredit Fiacc. In the early 1970s, Fiacc met poet Gerald Dawe, with whom he then started correspondence. Dawe extolled Fiacc's work and introduced him to wider audiences, including his students at Trinity College Dublin. Many poets and writers visited Fiacc in his Glengormley home. In 1981, Fiacc was elected to membership of Aosdána, the Irish arts academy. Also in the 1980s, Fiacc collaborated with artist Seamus Carmichael, who produced a series of colour prints based on Fiacc's anthologies. These images were widely exhibited in Ireland in 1985 and 1986. Many artists and photographers have depicted Fiacc and his work, including Neil Shawcross, Dan Dowling, and John Minihan.

Padraic Fiacc died on 21 January 2019 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, aged 94.

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