Eireann Corrigan (1977-) Biography

Born 1977, in NJ. Education: Sarah Lawrence College, B.A.; New York University, M.A.

Addresses

Agent—c/o Author Mail, Scholastic, Inc., 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

Career

Writer.

Writings

You Remind Me of You: A Poetry Memoir, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2002.

Splintering (verse novel), Scholastic (New York, NY), 2004.

Sidelights

New Jersey native Eireann Corrigan began writing poetry as a child, and when her older brother left home to attend high school in Germany, she spent hours writing him verse letters. Her first published work, You Remind Me of You: A Poetry Memoir, draws from that childhood habit, and teh book's free-verse ponderings regarding the author's relationship to a friend "swirl … with emotion and pain," according to Kliatt contributor Rebecca Rabinowitz. Corrigan's young-adult novel Splintering, also written in verse, was described by a Publishers Weekly critic as "gripping."

In Splintering, fifteen-year-old Paulina and her older brother Jeremy are visiting their married sister Mimi when a crazed drug addict breaks into Mimi's apartment and threatens their lives. After the attack the three siblings are left to reflect on the haunting incident, each through a series of poems. In Corrigan's free-verse text each of the characters must deal with the troublesome event in their own way, and the feelings of each individual tap into deep-seated emotions and bring up unique memories from the past. A Kirkus Reviews critic stated that Splintering is both "effective and affecting," and the novel's "culminating event brings the strands and family together in a satisfying denouement."

In an interview in ThisIsPush.com, Corrigan described what poetry means to her, noting: "Poetry demands a certain kind of emotional honesty. Oftentimes, I'm not even sure how I feel about something until I sit down and try to write about it. I don't mean everyday kind of questions like, 'Is there enough milk in the fridge?' I mean questions about things like regret and resolve, grief, or that whole love thing."