Stewart Parker

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James Stewart Parker (born October 20, 1941 in Belfast , † November 2, 1988 in London ) was a Northern Irish poet and playwright .

Life and work

Stewart Parker grew up in a Protestant working class family in the Belfast suburb of Sydenham. When he was 19, he was diagnosed with bone cancer and had one leg amputated. At that time he was already studying English literature at Queen's University of Belfast on a scholarship . After completing his master's degree in 1965, he taught in the USA. In 1969 he returned to Belfast and wrote for several years as a music critic for the Irish Times . He later lived in Edinburgh and London, where he died of stomach cancer in 1988.

Parker first published poetry in the late 1960s , and from the mid-1970s he concentrated on plays , most of which are characterized by postmodernism and deal with the Northern Ireland conflict , its history and its impact on people. He also wrote a number of radio and television plays .

After his death, the Stewart Parker Trust Award was launched for the best debut by an Irish playwright. Conor McPherson was one of the awardees.

Works (selection)

Poetry

  • 1967: The Casualty's Meditation
  • 1968: Maw

Radio plays

  • 1967: Speaking of Red Indians
  • 1975: The Iceberg
  • 1980: The Kamikaze Ground Staff Reunion Dinner

Television games

  • 1979: I'm a Dreamer, Montreal
  • 1981: Iris in the Traffic, Ruby in the Rain
  • 1985: Blue Money
  • 1987: Lost Belongings

Dramas

  • 1975: Spokesong
  • 1976: The Actress and the Bishop
  • 1977: Catchpenny Twist
  • 1980: Nightshade
  • 1982: Pratt's case
  • 1984: Northern Star
  • 1986: Heavenly Bodies
  • 1987: Pentecost

Awards

  • 1976: Evening Standard Award for Spokesong
  • 1976: Thames Television Grant for Spokesong
  • 1977: Evening Standard Award for Catchpenny Twist
  • 1979: Ewart Biggs Award for Catchpenny Twist
  • 1987: Harvey's Best Play of the Year Award for Pentecost

literature

  • Terence Brown: "Let's Go to Graceland: The Drama of Stewart Parker (1941-1988)", in: Jacqueline Genet / Elisabeth Hellegouarc'h (ed.): Studies on the Contemporary Irish Theater . Caen 1991, pp. 21-33.
  • Claudia W. Harris: "From Pastness to Wholeness: Stewart Parker's Reinventing Theater", in: Colby Quarterly 27, 1991, pp. 233-241.
  • Marilynn Richtarik: "Stewart Parker at Queen's University Belfast", in: Irish Review 29, 2002, pp. 58-69.
  • Marilynn Richtarik : Stewart Parker: a life , Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2012, ISBN 978-0-19-969503-4

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Parker, Stewart
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Parker, James Stewart (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Northern Irish poet and writer
DATE OF BIRTH October 20, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Belfast
DATE OF DEATH November 2nd, 1988
Place of death London