Following a first degree in Fine Art – Sculpture, Mark Leahy worked as a practicing artist, showing work in two-person and group exhibitions in Ireland, and has works in private and public collections there. He returned to education to pursue a degree in English at UCD, Dublin and went on to complete an MA by research on the work of playwright George Fitzmaurice. This research included directing productions of two of Fitzmaurice’s works. While teaching part-time at UCD and working on a humanities computing research project he and three colleagues set up a production company, Bright Boy, to produce site-specific theatre works. The receipt of a research scholarship in American Studies at Leeds University allowed him to pursue PhD research on contemporary American poetry, with particular attention to reading and the reader. This research led to a renewed interest in the intersection of visual and verbal art works and resulted in the joint curation of a day of workshops and papers with accompanying exhibition titled Verbal inter Visual in Birkbeck College, London. This work and ongoing freelance work as a design assistant on a number of theatre or performance projects, led to a sustained period of work at Artsadmin in London, as a project manager on work for Bobby Baker and Station House Opera. In parallel with this were three years as visiting lecturer in the Visual Culture and Media Department at the University of Middlesex. This work included development of a module in Writing for Design and Art Students, and engagement with a range of contemporary art and design practices. Mark Leahy has continued a writing practice and is involved in curating work, both in the area of visual poetics and in critical or theoretical investigations around poetry, art, visual culture and their intersections. He was employed as a Lecturer in Writing at Dartington College of Arts in September 2003, and was appointed Director of Writing there in August 2005. He moved to become MA Programme Leader at Dartington in October 2007, and continued in that role until October 2010. He continues to teach and to supervise PhD students at University College Falmouth, and works freelance as an arts project manager.