This new collection, by award winning poet Noel Monahan searches for identity and belonging, in the shifting shadows of modern Ireland. The section on sonnets seeks a spiritual uplift out of the darkness and poems written in Irish, with English translations further the quest for meaning. “Chalk Dust”, the stunning title poem, portrays an Irish Catholic boarding school, where sons of strong farmers and rural shopkeepers are placed in the ivory hands of priests, to be educated. This long dramatic prose poem is episodic and follows the calendar of a school year, where trapped male energy erupts, under the strains of collective living and time alone allows the Chalk Dust to settle.

Noel Monahan was born in Granard, Co. Longford. He has won numerous awards for his poetry and writing. His awards include: The SeaCat National Poetry Award, organised by Poetry Ireland, The RTE P.J. O’Connor Award for drama, The ASTI Achievements Award, The Hiberno-English Poetry Award and The Irish Writers’ Union Poetry Award. He has read his work on Sunday Miscellany, RTE Radio 1, and in a number of universities in Europe and North America. His poetry was prescribed text for Leaving Certificate English, 2011 & 2012. Chalk Dust is Noel Monahan’s eighth collection of poetry. A number of his poems have been translated into Italian, Russian, French and Romanian. For twenty-six years he has worked with Heather Brett as co editor of Windows Publications.   Recently, he has had work included in the following anthologies: Windharp, edited by Niall MacMonagle and published by Penguin, Tra Una Vita E L’Altra, published by Guanda, Italy, Lost Between, New Island Press, Everything To Play For, published by Poetry Ireland, Even The Daybreak, published by Salmon, and Reading The Future, New Writing From Ireland, Arlen House. Noel Monahan holds an M.A. in Creative Writing.