Apart from my teaching and nonfiction writing, I have written numerous translations of ancient tragedy for theatre and film, as well as original plays and film scripts, working with such directors and actors as Michael Cacoyannis, Irene Papas, and Michael Joyce. Currently I am working with Soho Moon Films (Dublin) on an extended dramatic series based on the Ulster Cycle of ancient Irish literature. In addition to my work as a writer, I have directed a variety of stage productions in the US, Ireland, and India. ​ 

"It is an unusual experience to see a mind of his caliber at work, without arrogance or pretentiousness. I think there is in Meagher a touch of genius. He is not only a great scholar, but a great humanist in the full, positive sense of the word."

Germaine Brée, Author, Scholar, Decorated WWII Veteran

About the Author

TEACHER • AUTHOR • PLAYWRIGHT • ACTIVIST

Since graduating summa cum laude in philosophy at the University of Notre Dame and completing my advanced degree in theology at the University of Chicago in the late sixties, my professional and public life has spanned a wide range of endeavors—scholarly, academic, creative, and political. 

TEACHING

From 1968 to the present, I have held permanent and visiting teaching positions at a dozen colleges and universities in the US and abroad, including Indiana University, the University of Notre Dame, Yale University, Trinity College Dublin, and Hampshire College. ​

Robert Emmet Meagher

WRITING

Since the publication of my first monograph in 1968, I have published over twenty books, translations, and plays in diverse disciplines and genres with such presses as Harper & Row,  St. Martin’s, New York University Press, Continuum, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, University of Massachusetts Press, Bolchazy-Carducci, Fortress, Swallow, Hackett, Praeger, Interlink, and Cascade.   

Throughout my life I have been active politically. These activities have included serving on the National Executive Committee of the Irish Anti-apartheid Movement in Dublin, working with Allard Lowenstein in the Movement for a New Congress, and participating as a Commissioner in the first National Truth Commission on Conscience in War.

During the past decade I have become increasingly involved in post-conflict resolution and healing with veterans in the US as well as with ex-combatants and ex-prisoners in Northern Ireland. For the past ten years I have directed a NEH and MassHumanities-funded Literature and Medicine program at the Veterans Administration center for Central and Western Massachusetts.