In the pantheon of great Irish poets, Bosco Helly would not feature, according to author and comedian Karl McDermott who has brought Bosco to life in his new book, Fail Again Fail Even Better. But what Bosco lacks in talent, technical skill, emotional depth and authenticity, he makes up for in persistence.

Over the years, possessing a Sisyphean stubbornness, he has published nearly 40 volumes of poetry. However, feeling increasingly disconnected from the modern world and wearying of decades of public indifference and critical contempt, he has decided that his latest volume will be his last.

As he attempts to finish this ultimate collection, Bosco engages in a trip and tumble-down memory lane, recalls the great love of his life, Luna, shares his concerns about ageing and introduces readers to his circle of artistically unfulfilled friends living in that eternal bastion of blather, Dublin.

Fail Again Fail Even Better is described by its author as “a hymn to all underachievers, a paean to creative pain, but most importantly, a full-throated if slightly off-key aria about the endurance of the human spirit”.

Published by Troubadour, the Dublin launch is being performed by Frank McNally of the Irish Times this Thursday, in the Teachers’ Club, Parnell Square.