Published: Wednesday, 14th July, 2010 5:00pm

Exhibition of work of Athlone poet

An Athlone poet will be the subject of a unique exhibition in Kildare later this month.

The exhibition, The Collection, is the first comprehensive assembly of the work of Athlone-born Des Egan.

Organised by Kildare County Librarian, Breda Gleeson and curated by librarian, Suzanne Brosnan, The Collection opens in Newbridge Community Library at 6 pm Tuesday July 27th.

The Collection will be presented at the invitation of Mayor Brendan Weld, by noted Greek poet, Yiorgos Chouliaras and an intriguing list of guest speakers includes the Ambassador of The Czech Republic, Professor Brian Arkins (NUIG); and County Librarian, Breda Gleeson.

As well as 23 individual poetry collections, it includes two books of prose essays, a documentary DVD made in USA, a multimedia presentation made in Czech Republic and Egan's two translations of Classical Greek Plays. On top of this, there are samples of the 24 collections of his work which have been published in book form in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Belgium, Greece, Japan, China.…

There are also three Critical Works devoted to Egan's writing: two from USA and one from Russia.

The extensive exhibition also features valuable Limited Editions: two from Luxembourg; two from USA; and two from Ireland. There is also a Complete Collection of ERA, an Arts Review edited by Egan in the 70s; plus some ten Poster Poems - including 'Freedom', a new American Poster to be launched by Ambassador Kafka on the night.

All are welcome and there will be refreshments served on what promises to be a historic celebration of the work of one of Ireland's leading poets.