The house in Killeenduff
where Harte was born.
JACK HARTE
Background |
Jack Harte was born in Killeenduff, near Easkey, Co Sligo, Ireland. When he was nine years old his family moved to Lanesboro, Co Longford, where his father worked for Bord-na-Mona. At the age of eighteen, he came to Dublin where he still lives. He attended primary schools at Killeenduff and Dromore West, Co. Sligo, and at Lanesboro, Co Longford. His secondary education was at Ballyleague, Co Roscommon and Roscommon town. Through evening courses at UCD he got a BA and H Dip in Ed.
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Jobs |
His first posting was as a bog labourer with Bord-na-Mona. He came to Dublin to take up a job on the docks. He has worked as a bus conductor, a courier, a laboratory technician, an executive officer in the Civil Service, a teacher, and a school principal.
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Short Story Writer |
Harte's first collection of stories, Murphy in the Underworld, was published by Glendale Press in 1986. Dedalus Press published his novella, Homage, in 1992 and his second collection of stories, Birds and other Tails, in 1996. A selection of his stories, under the title, Birds and Selected Stories, was translated into Bulgarian and published by Orpheus (Sofia) in 2001. From Under Gogol's Nose, a volume of new and selected stories was published by Scotus Press in 2004, along with ‘Lament for the Birds’, a CD of his stories and songs commissioned by Sligo County Council. In 2006 a volume of his stories, ‘Dream of a Pyramid’, was published in India by Rajkamal Prakashan in Hindi translation, and in 2007 a Russian translation of ‘From Under Gogol’s Nose’ was published by Voskresenye Publishing House and launched at the Moscow Book Fair. Individual stories have been published in magazines and anthologies in Ireland, Britain, U.S.A., Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Bulgaria, and Russia, and have been included in many school text-books. He has given public readings throughout Ireland as well as in England, France, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, India, Bulgaria, and Russia.
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Novelist |
In 2006 Scotus Press published ‘In the wake of the Bagger’, a novel commissioned by Sligo Co Council under the Per Cent for Art Scheme of the Irish Government, the first novel to be so commissioned. 2007 saw the publication in Bulgarian translation of his novel, ‘Reflections in a Tar Barrel’. It was launched at the Applonia Arts festival, achieved sensational success, and became a bestseller. The English version is due out in Ireland and India during 2008.
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Arts Activist |
Harte's achievements as an arts activist are many and significant. In 1985 he set up the Writers' Project at Lucan Vocational School to confront the total absence of professional structures for writers, and pioneered the use of the then new Social Employment Scheme for the purposes of developing the arts. He employed Joe Jackson as the first official Writer-in-Residence in Ireland during 1985/86 - establishing the pattern for this scheme now widely used as a support mechanism for writers. He also employed the poet, Padraig McGrane, as secretary, and set about the twin aims of establishing a Writers' Union and a national Writers' Centre. He established the Irish Writers' Union in January, 1987, and it quickly became a recognised and dynamic force in effecting improvements in conditions for writers. In November of the same year he secured a grant of £100,000 from the National Lottery to establish the Irish Writers' Centre. With the involvement of the writers' organisations and the support of a wide range of writers, he negotiated a joint project with Matt McNulty of Dublin Tourism who was in the process of setting up the Dublin Writers' Museum at Parnell Square, and in 1991 the Irish Writers' Centre finally came into existence at 19 Parnell Square. At this stage Harte withdrew from active involvement, but not before he had also initiated the move to set up a copyright agency in Ireland.
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Other Arts activities |
Harte has acted as judge of the Irish Schools Creative Writing Awards, and the Listowel Writers Week Short Story Competition. He has served on the International Reading Panel for G.E.S., the French-sponsored European Creative Writing Project for young people. He has given creative writing workshops throughout the country, including the Fiction Workshop at Listowel Writers Week. During 2000 - 2001 he helped to establish an arts programme at Airfield in Dundrum, Dublin.
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Recent Public Readings |
- January, 2004 Indo-European Literary Festival devoted to the ‘Story’, organized by Katha, New Delhi, India.
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The house in Killeenduff
where Harte was born.
The Bord na Móna estate
at Lanesboro
With Education Minister,
Mary O'Rourke, at the opening
of Lucan Community College
Receiving a presentation
from the staff of Gymnasium
Munchberg, Bavaria