Since retiring from Publishers Weekly as co-editorial director in 2014, Michael Coffey has written extensively on Samuel Beckett. In addition to performance reviews in peer-reviewed Beckett journals, he has published Samuel Beckett Is Closed, an experimental work bringing Beckett into the 21st century, and Beckett’s Children, a hybrid work interweaving textual analysis and memoir. He has also published three books of poems, a collection of short stories; written a book on baseball’s perfect games and served as editor on The Irish in America, a companion volume to a PBS documentary marking the 150th anniversary of the worst year of the famine in Ireland. He has a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and an M.A. in Anglo-Irish Studies from Leeds University (U.K.).
Michael Coffey
Writer & Editor
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2025
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2025
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Fail Again, Fail Better
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better. – Samuel Beckett Why do NY Mets fans stay true to their team, season after losing season? The answer may have to do with the kind of delirious joy they experience when that special year comes around and they finally win the World Series. But... read more! »