Crisis Actor - Declan Ryan

Shortlisted For The Seamus Heaney First Collection Poetry Prizeshortlisted For The John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prizeshortlisted For The Michael Murphy Prize'who Knew That Writing With This Degree Of Care And Pain And Tact Was Still Possible? For My Money It's The Best First Volume In Decades, I Would Say Since Tom Paulin's A State Of Justice (1977): No Dead Weight, Foot-perfect And Engaging.' Michael Hofmann, Times Literary Supplement, Books Of The Yearcrisis Actor Chronicles Various Failures And Farewells. It Is Peopled By Faded Heroes And Deferential Devotees; A Hanged Donkey, A Bloated Rat; Solitary Bachelors And Disillusioned Youths - These Are The Watchers, Not The Players.