Dennis Greig, who has died aged 76, was a poet and the editor of Lapwing Publications, a luminary poetry press in Belfast, for greater than 30 years.
At first look, Dennis regarded like a cross between an historical bard and a heavy-metal guitarist. After a bit acquaintance he turned an much more visionary determine. Michael Longley gave his blessings and voice to the institution of Lapwing Publications, in addition to Mairtín Crawford, himself an interstellar power within the promotion of recent poets past the protection nets of academia. The cross-community nature of the enterprise was by no means doubtful, and it turned the wellspring of Dennis’s theatrical initiatives – alongside along with his spouse, Rene, he ran a theatre group for younger actors, touring to venues in Eire and to Brighton.
Lapwing was established in 1988 and has produced greater than 500 volumes, an astonishing combination of ingenues and established writers, many from Eire, however under no circumstances completely so. If an unknown author’s manuscript confirmed type, vigour, a refusal to adapt and but a celebration of formal abilities, it will discover a residence within the citadel at Ballysillan. On the identical time, if a poet languished from the vagaries of trend, Lapwing gave area and important help, if such help was warranted. Dennis was cussed, voluble, brazen in his assaults on any form of complacency or cabal. It was widespread to obtain a Swiftian diatribe in the middle of an in any other case mundane communication: his information and fervour for literature was in his bloodstream.
Dennis’s mom, Ruth Greig, was a cleaner all her life. His father was an Australian serviceman; Dennis by no means knew his title. Leaving faculty at 15, Dennis labored full-time in an Indian takeaway restaurant earlier than learning engineering at Feldon Faculty (now a part of the Northern Regional Faculty) in Northern Eire (1979-82); then conflict-resolution counselling and theatre, at Queen’s College Belfast on a Staff’ occasion initiative (1993); and, lastly, English literature on the College of Ulster (2012). For 20 years from 1973 he labored for TRW Mission, manufacturing components that have been used on area rockets. His ardour for theatre and poetry discovered expression in founding the Hammer writers’ group in 1983.
All through Dennis’s wrestle for recognition, Rene (nee Snoddy) was not solely a soulmate, however a fellow pilgrim for the humanities and for cross-community initiatives. They met in a dancehall in Belfast in 1966 and married in 1969. They have been inseparable and did an ideal sideline in ballroom dancing, dressing for the event with panache.
The ultimate years of Dennis’s life have been blighted with sickness, remissions and setbacks. Throughout a short respite from hospital, he attended a tribute studying for himself and Lapwing Press on the Linen Corridor library in Belfast. Afterwards, palpably drained, he refused an ambulance again to the Queen Victoria. I solely understood why once I swear I noticed Dennis, Rene and their son Amos gathered on a bench, cigarettes ablaze. Freedom was his birthright, even when it killed him.
Dennis is survived by Rene, their sons, Amos, Louis and Malcolm, and 5 grandchildren.
