New Jersey-born Irish American poet John Menaghan will be reading some of his works on Wednesday, March 28, at 4:30 p.m. at Villanova University’s Falvey Library. Menaghan, winner of the Academy of American Poets Prize, is a creative writing teacher at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, Calif. He is one of several poets visiting Villanova as part of the second annual Irish Festival sponsored by the Department of Theater and Irish Studies program.

“All the Money in the World,” his first book of poetry, was published in Ireland and distributed in the U.S. by Dufour Editions of Chester Springs, Pa. His poems and translations have appeared in various Irish and U.S. journals, including Poetry Ireland, Working Papers in Irish Studies, and Berkeley Poetry Review.

On Thursday, April 12, poets Peter Fallon and Eamon Grennan will read from their works in the Presidents’ Lounge, Connelly Center, starting at 7 p.m. 

Fallon was born in Germany but raised in Ireland, where he now lives with his family. His poetry has been described as “tough and alive, like a just-cut holly stick,” by British poet Ted Hughes. Winner of the 1993 O'Shaughnessy Poetry Award from the Irish American Cultural Institute, he was the inaugural Heimbold Professor of Irish Studies at Villanova University. In 2003 he was elected to Aosadana, an association which honors artists who have made an outstanding contribution to the arts in Ireland.

Eamon Grennan was born in Ireland but has spent the last 30-some years in the United States. Author of six books of poetry, he is the retired Dexter M. Ferry Jr. Professor of English at Vassar College. His poems, reviews, and critical essays have appeared in many Irish and American magazines and journals, including The New Yorker, The Nation, Paris Review, Threepenny Review, Kenyon Review, and the Yale Review. One reviewer wrote of Grennan’s work, “Here is poetry that will last, that will be read long after the present shadows have passed."

As part of the festival, Villanova is presenting the play, “Someone to Watch Over Me,” written by Irish playwright Frank McGuinness and directed by the Rev. David Cregan, O.S.A., on April 27, 28, and 29 at Vasey Hall Theater. Tickets are $15, $10 for Villanova Faculty and staff, and $7 for students. For more information, call (610) 519-7474 or go to www.theater.villanova.edu.