Fr Paul Murray is an Irish Dominican friar. He lives and works in Rome, Italy, where he teaches the literature of the Western mystical tradition at the Angelicum University. Works in the field of spirituality and literature include: T.S. Eliot and Mysticism: The Secret History of Four Quartets (1991) and God’s Spies: Michelangelo, Shakespeare and Other Poets of Vision (2019. He has published five books of poetry. Dennis O’Driscoll, in a review of The Absent Fountain, remarked: ‘It is in every sense an inspired work.’ And Fred Johnston, reviewing These Black Stars, noted: ‘There is a lovely elegant simplicity to Murray’s poems … This is a wonderful book, a must for anyone who believes that poetry and spirituality should enjoy a definite symbiosis.’