First Collection Poetry Prize

The Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University Belfast has announced the shortlist for the 2019 Poetry Prize for full first collection, supported by Glucksman Ireland House and the Atlantic Philanthropies.

The winner will be announced during the Seamus Heaney Centre’s annual Poetry Summer School, at the Awards Night on Tuesday 2^nd July 2019, No Alibis Bookstore, Botanic Avenue, Belfast.

The shortlist includes:

• Jinx, by Abigail Parry (Bloodaxe Books, 2018)
• Unearthly Toys: Poems and Masks, by Ned Denny (Carcanet, 2018)
• Shrines of Upper Austria, by Phoebe Power (Carcanet, 2018)
• Three Poems, by Hannah Sullivan (Faber & Faber, 2018)
• The Distal Point, by Fiona Moore (Happenstance Press, 2018)
• Gall, Matt Howard (The Rialto, 2018)

The Seamus Heaney Centre Poetry Prize is awarded to a writer whose first full collection has been published in the preceding year, by a UK or Ireland-based publisher. The winning writer receives £5,000 and is invited to read at Glucksman Ireland House at New York University. For this they receive travel, accommodation, and a $1,000 honorarium.

This year’s judges are Professor Nick Laird, Chair of Creative Writing at the Seamus Heaney Centre; Professor Edna Longley, critic and Professor Emeritus at Queen’s University Belfast; and Dr Stephen Sexton, poet and lecturer at the Seamus Heaney Centre.

Speaking about the prize Professor Nick Laird, Chair of the judging panel said: “We were delighted to read such a vigorous group of debut collections this year, and we think this shortlist showcases much of the variety and ingenuity of contemporary poetry.”

The winning writer will be invited to read at Glucksman Ireland House and at New York City's Irish Art Centre's annual Poetryfest.