Brian Merriman or in Irish Brian Mac Giolla Meidhre (circa 1749 - 27 July 1805) was an Irish language poet and teacher. His single surviving work of substance, the 1000-line long C�irt An Mhe�n O�che ( The Midnight Court ) is widely regarded as the greatest comic poem in the history of Irish literature.
Ciaran Carson was born in 1948. He has published various poetry collections, including First Language, which won the 1993 T.S.Eliot Prize, and two books of prose. He lives in Belfast with his family.