Two of Northern Ireland’s most prominent new poets, Sinead Morrissey and Jean Bleakney, will visit the University’s Coleraine campus next week to present a public reading of their work. 

Sinead Morrissey’s work has been praised for its range of poetic styles and forms.  She was born in Portadown and at age eighteen in 1990 became the youngest ever recipient of the Patrick Kavanagh Award for Poetry.  In 1996 she won an Eric Gregory Award for the manuscript of her first book, There was Fire in Vancouver and her second book, Between Here and There (2002) was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Award in 2003.  Her most recent collection, The State of the Prisons, was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation; it also won her the Michael Hartnett Award for Poetry in 2005; was picked as one of the literary highlights of 2005 in The Guardian, and has just been shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Award 2006. 

She now lives in Northern Ireland but has lived and worked in Germany, Japan and New Zealand, and her experiences there have provided the inspiration for much of her work. 

Jean Bleakney was born in Newry in 1956.  She came to poetry late in life having studied biochemistry at Queen’s University and worked for eight years as a biochemist in medical research.  She gave up research to raise her children began writing poetry soon after.

She has since published two collections of poetry with Lagan Press: The Ripple Tank Experiment (1999) and The Poet's Ivy (2003).  Her work has appeared in several anthologies, most recently New Soundings, edited by Daragh Carville (Blackstaff Press, 2003) and The New Irish Poets, edited by Selina Guinness (Bloodaxe Books, 2004).  She now lives in Belfast where, in addition to writing, she works in a garden centre. 

The visit to Coleraine has been arranged by the School of Languages and Literature and the Academy for Irish Cultural Heritages, with the support of the Cultural Development Support Scheme.  

The reading will take place in the Riverview (Link) Lounge on the Coleraine campus on Tuesday 6 December at 8.00pm.  Admission is free and everyone is welcome but as seating is limited advance booking is essential.  Contact the Cultural Development Department on 028 7032 4683 to reserve a place.

For further information, please contact:

Trina Porter
Telephone: 028 71675511
Email: Trina Porter