Sinéad Morrissey facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sinéad Morrissey
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Morrissey at the Durham Book Festival in 2015
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| Born | April 24, 1972 Portadown, County Armagh |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Notable works | Parallax (2013) |
| Notable awards | Poetry Now Award (2010) T. S. Eliot Prize (2014) |
Sinéad Morrissey (born April 24, 1972) is a famous poet from Northern Ireland. She is known for writing powerful and interesting poems. In 2014, she won the important T. S. Eliot Prize for her book of poems called Parallax. She also won the Forward Prize for Poetry in 2017 for another collection, On Balance.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Sinéad Morrissey was born in Portadown, County Armagh, but she grew up in the city of Belfast. For college, she went to Trinity College, Dublin, a well-known university in Ireland. There, she earned both a bachelor's degree and a PhD, which is the highest degree you can get.
After finishing her studies, Morrissey lived in other countries, including Japan and New Zealand. These experiences often influenced her writing. She later returned to the United Kingdom and now lives in Newcastle, England.
Career as a Writer and Teacher
Morrissey is not only a poet but also a teacher. She has helped many young writers develop their skills. She worked at Queen's University, Belfast, where she was a professor of creative writing. She also helped run the Seamus Heaney Centre, a place dedicated to poetry and named after another famous Irish poet.
In 2016, she became a Professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University. Morrissey has two children.
Famous Poetry Collections
Morrissey has written several books of poetry that have been celebrated by critics and readers. A collection is a book that gathers many of a poet's works together.
Her published collections include:
- There Was Fire in Vancouver (1996)
- Between Here and There (2001)
- The State of the Prisons (2005)
- Through the Square Window (2009)
- Parallax (2013)
- On Balance (2017)
Many of her books were shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize, which means they were chosen as one of the best poetry books of the year.
Awards and Achievements
Throughout her career, Sinéad Morrissey has won many awards for her poetry. These awards recognize her talent and the importance of her work.
Major Prizes
- Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award (1990): She won this award early in her career.
- Michael Hartnett Poetry Prize (2005): She received this for her collection The State of the Prisons.
- National Poetry Competition (2007): Her poem "Through the Square Window" won first place in this major British competition.
- Poetry Now Award (2010): She won this for her book Through the Square Window.
- T. S. Eliot Prize (2014): She won this very prestigious award for Parallax. The head judge, Ian Duhig, said her book was "politically, historically and personally ambitious, expressed in beautifully turned language."
- Forward Poetry Prize (2017): Her sixth book, On Balance, won the prize for Best Collection.
Other Honours
In 2007, Morrissey received a fellowship from the Lannan Foundation. This was given to her for her "distinctive literary merit" and her potential to continue creating amazing work.
In 2019, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. This is a huge honour for a writer in the United Kingdom. In the same year, she contributed to a book called A New Divan: A Lyrical Dialogue between East and West.
See also
- List of Northern Irish writers
