Vona Groarke facts for kids

Vona Groarke is an Irish poet. She is set to become Ireland's Professor of Poetry starting in September 2025. This is a very important role for a poet in Ireland.

About Vona Groarke

Vona Groarke has written many books, including nine collections of poetry. Some of her poetry books are Shale (1994), Flight (2002), Spindrift (2009), and Double Negative (2019). She also translated an old Irish poem called Lament for Art O'Leary in 2008. Another translation she did is Woman of Winter (2023), which is based on a very old Irish poem. Her book Selected Poems (2016) won a special award called the Pigott Prize.

Her Work and Research

In 2022, Vona Groarke published a unique book called Hereafter: The Telling Life of Ellen O'Hara. This book tells the story of Irish women who moved to New York in the late 1800s and worked as house servants. It combines poetry, stories, history, and pictures. She wrote this book after spending time as a Fellow at the New York Public Library.

Vona Groarke has also been involved in many other literary activities. She used to be the editor of Poetry Ireland Review, a well-known poetry magazine. She has also helped choose books for the Poetry Book Society in the U.K. She has been a judge for important poetry awards, like the Forward Prizes. She also wrote reviews about poetry for the Irish Times newspaper.

Teaching and Recognition

Vona Groarke has taught at several universities. She has taught at Villanova University and Wake Forest University in the United States. Since 2007, she has been teaching at the University of Manchester in England.

In 2010, she became a member of Aosdána. This is a special group that honors Irish artists. Currently, she is the Poet in Residence with the Yeats Society in Sligo, Ireland. She is also a Writer in Residence at St John's College, Cambridge, in England. In 2025, she was chosen to be the Ireland Professor of Poetry. She will hold this important position from September 2025 to November 2028.

Awards and Honours

Vona Groarke's poetry has received many awards. These include the Brendan Behan Memorial Award and the Michael Hartnett Award. She also won the Strokestown International Poetry Award. Several of her poetry books, like Spindrift and Double Negative, were nominated for the Irish Times Poetry Now Award. Her book Hereafter: The Telling Life of Ellen O'Hara was also shortlisted for a poetry prize in 2023. In 2024, she became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. This is a great honor for writers.