On November 18, 2022, President Michael D. Higgins announced that Paul Muldoon would serve as Ireland Professor of Poetry from 2022 until 2025.

Paul Muldoon and President Michael D. Higgins

Paul Muldoon said of his appointment: “To be a poet at all is to be a professor of poetry. In this case, it’s especially gratifying to have the opportunity to formalize that professing, that “declaring openly,” of how poetry has been the central spiritual practice of my life. In the course of the next three years I hope to focus less on the writing of poetry than the reading of it. At Queen’s University, Belfast, for example, I’ll be leading discussions on “How To Read a Poem.” These discussions will centre on poems published in literary journals and newspapers in the same week as our meeting and will be open to one and all. That’s a forum I also plan to offer in both UCD and TCD, though I’m very keen to make further connections with the School of Irish, Celtic Studies and Folklore at UCD and the Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation. The lectures I’ll be giving as Ireland Professor of Poetry will reflect all of these interests, plus a few more. After 35 years of teaching in the US, I’m looking forward to connecting more immediately with, and contributing to, the cultural life of Ireland.”