A highly accomplished stylist, Mark Whelan’s acute sensitivity to the music of language permits him to register the fleeting textures of emotion with nuanced rhythms and imaginative sonic patterns. Armed with an intense appreciation for the tonal value of the visual, his deft combinations of mood and image allows his poems to open up original and affecting emotional landscapes.

Ciaran O’Driscoll has commented that Whelan’s work ‘approaches the condition of drama,’ and as well as authoring dramatic poems for stage such as The Sear of Wounds 1 - 4, he has collaborated on interdisciplinary poetry and sculpture installations.

Whelan was born in Limerick City in 1960, and his work has been translated into numerous European languages. He is a co-founder and on-going committee member of Cuisle: Limerick City International Poetry Festival and his poetry collections are Scarecrow Diptych (2003) and Always Pushing the Pull Door (2007).