John FitzGerald is a graduate of University College Cork (BA in English and Philosophy, 1983), University College Dublin and the University of Wales at Aberystwyth. Following some time working as an IT specialist in the private sector in Ireland and the UK, and as a librarian at Trinity College Dublin, he became University Librarian at UCC in 1996, where he also currently holds overall responsibility for the Cork University Press.
In his professional roles John has consistently fostered and promoted literary activities –around poetry in particular– most recently in acquiring for UCC The Great Book of Ireland, and sponsoring a major series of poetry readings and associated activities around an exhibition of the manuscript at UCC during 2014. He is a board member of West Cork Music Ltd, which operates the annual West Cork Literary Festival in Bantry. John believes that poetry is even more relevant in the modern age as a medium for individual and collective self expression, and as a ready source of creative engagement for readers and listeners. He is a keen reader of poetry in English across all of the ages and continents. He also writes poetry and was recently awarded the 2014 Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award.
