Michael J. Whelan is a poet and historian living in Tallaght, County Dublin. He served as a United Nations peacekeeper with the Irish Defence Forces in South Lebanon and Kosovo. He was 2^nd Place Winner of the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award in 2011(short-listed 2012) and 3^rd Place Winner of the Jonathan Swift Creative Writing Awards 2012 (short-listed 2011). He was selected as a reader for the Eigse Eireann/Poetry Ireland Introductions Series 2012. ​