Department Profile: Dr. Jefferson Holdridge, Professor of English and Director of WFU Press

I was born in White Plains, NY and grew up in Weston CT, then studied in California at SFSU. After living and studying in Ireland for 12 years for an MA and PhD at University College Dublin, I was fortunate to be hired here at Wake to teach Irish literature and direct Wake Forest University Press. I enjoy teaching the cultural and political history of Ireland and endeavoring to relay the complex systems of the masters W.B. Yeats, James Joyce, and Samuel Beckett, as well as introducing the many Irish writers whose artistry sheds light on this culturally fertile, but historically embattled island.  In my work at the Press, I have overseen the publication of numerous volumes from many of the best poets writing in Ireland.  I have published a book entitled Those Mingled Seas: the Poetry of W.B. Yeats, the Beautiful and the Sublime (2000) as well as another called The Poetry of Paul Muldoon (2008), and I have a third one in preparation on nature, home and landscape in Irish Literature. 

In my capacity as Director of Wake Forest University Press, I have edited and introduced two anthologies of Irish poetry (2005, 2010), as well as a collection of essays entitled Post-Ireland? Essays on Contemporary Irish Poetry, with Brian O’Conchubhair (2017). I am also the author of three volumes of poetry, The Sound Thereof (Graft Poetry, 2017), Devil’s Den and Other Poems (Split Oak, 2015), and Eruptions (Lapwing, 2013). 

As you can see from my photo, I love teaching in Italy …