John F. Deane, author, poet, and editor, was born on Achill Island, County Mayo, Ireland on December 8th, 1943. He was educated at Mungret College, Limerick, and University College, Dublin, where he received his M.A. in modern English and American literature. He worked as a teacher at St. Aidan's Secondary School, Whitehall, Dublin, for 10 years. In 1978, he founded the national poetry society, Poetry Ireland, and he resigned from teaching in 1979 to develop the society and write full-time. That same year, Deane launched the poetry magazine, The Poetry Ireland Review. In 1985, Deane founded The Dedalus Press, and continued as editor until 2006. Deane additionally published his own imprint, "Waxwing Poems from the House of Icarus."

Deane spent much of his time encouraging and establishing community among poets in Ireland and in Europe more broadly. In addition to establishing Poetry Ireland, Deane was a member of the Irish artists' association, Aosdána, and the European Academy of Poetry. Through Dedalus Press, he published the Poetry Europe series to feature non-English-speaking poets in translation.

Deane married Barbara Sheridan in 1973, and they had two daughters, Laura and Catherine. Barbara died in December of 1980. He married Ursula Foran in 1984, and they had one daughter, Mary.

Sources:

Deane, John, and Pat Boran. "Dedalus: The End of the Beginning." Poetry Ireland News, March/April 2005. https://www.poetryireland.ie/writers/articles/dedalus-the-end-of-the-beginning.

"John F. Deane." Carcanet Press. Accessed November 13, 2025. https://www.carcanet.co.uk/author/john-f-deane.

"John F. Deane." Contemporary Authors Online. Gale Group, 2001.

"John F. Deane." Dictionary of Irish Literature: revised and expanded ed. Westport: Greenwood, 1996.

"John F. Deane." Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco), 2001.