To mark what would have been Brendan Kennelly’s 86th birthday, Research Collections are delighted to announce the start of the Brendan Kennelly Literary Archive project. The Library of Trinity College acquired the Brendan Kennelly archive in 2008 and further tranches of material were subsequently accessioned. In 2019, we curated the online exhibition ‘Forever Begin’ celebrating the poet’s remarkable and significant contributions to Irish literary and cultural life over many decades. The Brendan Kennelly Literary Archive is currently being catalogued as part of a Virtual Trinity Library project under the “Trinity’s Scholarly Contribution to the World” theme. The aim of the project is to make the records accessible to support the teaching, learning and research needs of staff, students and visiting scholars.
Professor Emeritus Brendan Kennelly was born on the 17th of April 1936 in Ballylongford, Co. Kerry. He is internationally renowned as one of Ireland’s best-known poets and an iconic cultural figure. His first works appeared in print over fifty years ago and he has a prolific publication record with over forty books of published poetry alone. He joined the Department of English in Trinity College, the University of Dublin where he worked over a period of forty years becoming Professor of Modern Literature. As a lecturer he influenced the formation of generations of young creative minds.
His archival collection (MS 11333) is extensive and covers all facets of Brendan’s life, personal, professional, and creative. It is a unique collection that will be of interest not only to scholars of Brendan Kennelly’s work, but to those interested in the work of his many literary, artistic, and political contacts and correspondents and will act as a rich literary and cultural archive but also a social history of a time and place. The collection comprises over 200 large boxes of material which include literary drafts, lectures, research materials, reviews, workshop material, works by others, theatrical ephemera, personal material, photographs, memorabilia, and a great quantity of correspondence. The research opportunities presented by such a collection are extraordinarily varied and significant. There are literary studies, biographical studies, cultural studies, sociological studies and studies on the role and impact of university teaching on a nation. The Literary Archive is distinctive as it might be the last fully paper-based collection that we ingest.
This project was initiated by a grant of funds from the Provost and we acknowledge the support of the Brendan Kennelly Trust, the Kennelly Family and colleagues in the English Department. We look forward to sharing more about the project in the coming months.