`Exemplary Damages' is as fine and varied a collection as its five predecessors. It captures contemporary attitudes towards life, love and God with unfaltering accuracy in styles which range from the richly sensuous to the mercilessly mordant. Whether depicting a group of middle-aged `lads' at tea break or struggling to comprehend the English spoken at an EU seminar, Dennis O'Driscoll's skill in observation and metaphor succeeds in conveying humour and pathos with an unsentimental robustness.

Born in Thurles, County Tipperary in 1954, Dennis O'Driscoll has received wide recognition for his previous collections, including a Lannan Literary Award in 1999. A selection of his essays and reviews, `Troubled Thoughts, Majestic Dreams' (Gallery Press), appeared in 2001. A civil servant since the age of 16, he works for Irish Customs in Dublin.