“Dr Nerys Williams from the UCD School of English, Drama and Film, has been shortlisted for the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection in the (UK) Forward Prizes for Poetry 2011. Founded by William Sieghart in 1992 to raise the profile of contemporary poetry, the Forward Prizes for Poetry are one of the UK’s most valuable poetry prizes …” (more)
[UCD News, 26 July]
“A landmark anthology of Irish poetry is set to be published charting our greatest writers such as WB Yeats, Patrick Kavanagh, Seamus Heaney … and Christy Moore. Eyebrows have been raised at the inclusion of the singer songwriter among these illustrious bedfellows in the Penguin Book of Irish Verse …” (more)
[Breda Heffernan and John Spain, Independent, 28 August]
“Writing is in danger of being overvalued at the moment, Ireland’s new Professor of Poetry, Dublin-born poet Harry Clifton said last night. Speaking at the announcement of his appointment as Ireland Professor of Poetry 2010 in Dublin, the 58-year-old said he would protect the sanctity of the mythical poet’s teaching room from ‘the kind of people who have too strong an agenda’ …” (more)
[Fiona Gartland, Irish Times, 1 July]
“The Ireland Chair of Poetry was established in 1998 to mark the award to Seamus Heaney of the Nobel Prize for Literature three years earlier. The chair (or professorship) was defined in quite explicit terms by the Nobel Laureate himself when he declared that ‘the post is intended to manifest the value of poetry within our cultural and intellectual life’ …” (more)
[Gerry Smyth, Irish Times, 1 July]
“Dublin-born poet Harry Clifton has spoken of his surprise at being named as the new Ireland Professor of Poetry. The 57-year-old was picked by a panel of top academics and arts figures for the role, which will see him deliver readings, workshops and university lectures …” (more)
[Independent, 30 June]
“One of the most intriguing appointments in the academic world is that of the Professor of Poetry at Oxford University – a post held in the past by celebrated poets such as WH Auden and Seamus Heaney …” (more)
[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 20 June]
“Irish poet Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin has won the prestigious Canada-based Griffin Poetry Prize for her collection, The Sun-fish. Ní Chuilleanáin, born in Cork city in 1942, is a fellow and professor of English at Trinity College Dublin, and a member of Aosdána …” (more)
[Eoin Burke-Kennedy, Irish Times, 4 June]
