Niall McDevitt was an Irish poet, actor, essayist, scholar, and literary activist. Born in Limerick, he moved to South Dublin as a child, where he and his siblings were raised by their father. He attended Belvedere College and earned his degree in English at University College Dublin. He traveled Europe and lived in Scotland for a time before relocating to England, where he would live for the rest of his life. McDevitt quickly became part of London’s rich cultural milieu. He followed his brother Roddy in joining Ken Campbell’s experimental acting troupe, his poem “Off-Duty” was selected for Transport for London’s Poems on the Buses project, and he was selected as poet-in-residence at the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith, a role he would hold for fourteen years.
McDevitt’s poetry collections include b/w (Waterloo Press, 2010), Porterloo (International Times, 2013), Firing Slits: A Jerusalem Colportage (New River Press, 2016), and London Nation (New River Press, 2022). His writing was published in a range of outlets, including in The London Magazine, Agenda, Boiler House Press, The Oxford School of Poetry, Blackwell’s Poetry, The Idler, and The Palestine Chronicle. McDevitt’s poetic areas of interest spanned the centuries, drawing from the ancient world and various eras of English literature as well as zeroing in on specific locations, from London and Ireland to Jerusalem and Babylon. His primary inspirations were William Blake, W. B. Yeats, William Shakespeare, and Arthur Rimbaud, whom he collectively referred to as his “personal Kabbala.”
McDevitt’s poetic recitations, which he would frequently accompany with musical performance, were known for their liveliness and intensity. He appeared on radio shows including John Peel’s Home Truths, where he was resident Pidgin poet and translator. In 2020, he was commissioned to write new work for the multimedia Blake tribute The Bard at Flat Time House.
A self-styled “walking artist,” McDevitt generated original “psychogeographical” literary walks around London, which garnered him much admiration. He crafted information-rich walks themed around Joyce, Chaucer, Rimbaud, Wilde, and more. One of his William Blake walks was covered by the BBC’s The Poet of Albion and listed as one of Nigel Richardson’s Great British Walks, while his final set of five Blake walks was documented in Sé Merry Doyle’s film series BlakeLand. He also collaborated with Doyle on films including The Battle of Blythe Road, which won Special Award at the Portobello Film Festival in 2021, and James Joyce – Reluctant Groom.
As an activist, McDevitt focused his attention on many aspects of power and its imbalances, from class issues to conservation to censorship. In his role as poetry editor for the International Times, he successfully advocated for the release of the imprisoned Burmese (Myanma) poet Saw Wai. He also petitioned for the preservation of the Rimbaud-Verlaine house in London and helped stop development of the land around William Blake’s grave.
A founding member of New River Press, McDevitt’s work was admired by luminaries such as Iain Sinclair, Yoko Ono, Patti Smith, and John Cooper Clarke. In 2022, he died of skin cancer. He was survived by his partner and collaborator, artist Julie Goldsmith, and her son, Heathcote Ruthven.
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More Niall McDevitt
Text: Read McDevitt's "A 'Hymn' to Marlowe at The London Magazine
Video: McDevitt performs "Abel & Cain: 150 Years after Baudelaire" in a short film
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Photo by Julie Goldsmith.