Remembering Derek Walcott

I have a lot of great memories of Derek Walcott but the one abiding memory, the one that always returns, is when he pulled me aside one day after our first class together. He had just heard an early draft of a play I was writing and he asked if I would like to sit in on his poetry seminars too. I said, “Yes, of course.” But what it really meant to me was that this master had seen something in my work that required his attention; that this green behind ears newbie had the stuff to become a writer. It was the recognition that gave me the confidence to be the writer I am today.

The play I was working on that day was The Lepers of Baile Baiste. And below is a picture of myself and Derek and Ciaran Crawford on the opening night of that play in New York City three years after that first class. I am what I am because of Derek Walcott.

New York City, 2004

Ciaran Crawford, Ronán Noone, and Derek Walcott on opening night of The Lepers of Baile Baiste.