Poet Leontia Flynn is awarded the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature 2008

Posted on: 18 June 2008

The Rooney  Prize  for Irish  Literature for 2008 was awarded to Leontia Flynn, in recognition of her achievement and outstanding promise as a poet. The announcement was made by the Provost   at a reception in Trinity College Dublin  on June 17th last.

Leontia Flynn, who is currently a research fellow at the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry in Queen’s University Belfast was born in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland in 1974.  She completed a degree in English at Queen’s University Belfast, followed by a Masters at Edinburgh, before returning to Belfast to write her Ph.D. The young poet  won an Eric Gregory Award in 2001, and her first collection, These Days (Cape 2004) won the  Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize for Poetry. A second volume entitled Drives  is forthcoming this summer.

Previous winners of the  Rooney Prize include Bernard Farrell, Neil Jordan, Frank McGuinness, Deirdre Madden and Anne Enright.

The selection committee this year comprised:
Terence Brown,  Chair of the selection committee, critic and author (Professor of Anglo-Irish literature, TCD);
Gerald Dawe, poet and critic (Director, The Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing, TCD);
Dr Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, novelist and dramatist (National Library of Ireland)
Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, poet (Professor, School of English, TCD)
Carlo Gébler, novelist and dramatist;
Dr Riana O’Dwyer critic and editor (Department of English, National University of Ireland at Galway)

Commenting on the significance of Leontia Flynn’s literary work, Professor Brown said that her work is marked by lyrical grace combined with intelligent lightness of touch and exhilarating humour.

The Rooney Prize  is  administered by  The Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing, School of English, Trinity College Dublin.

About  the Rooney Prize:
The Rooney Prize is awarded through the generosity of Dr Daniel M. Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the USA  and his wife, Patricia . It was established in 1975 and is awarded  annually to a published Irish writer under  forty  whose work the selection committee considers shows outstanding promise.

 

Poet Leontia Flynn is awarded the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature 2008

Posted on: 18 June 2008

The Rooney Prize for Irish Literature for 2008 was awarded to Leontia Flynn, in recognition of her achievement and outstanding promise as a poet. The announcement was made by the Provost at a reception in Trinity College Dublin on June 17th last.

Leontia Flynn, who is currently a research fellow at the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry in Queen’s University Belfast was born in Downpatrick , Northern Ireland in 1974.  She completed a degree in English at Queen’s University Belfast, followed by a Masters at Edinburgh , before returning to Belfast to write her Ph.D. The young poet won an Eric Gregory Award in 2001, and her first collection, These Days (Cape 2004) won the  Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize for Poetry. A second volume entitled Drives is forthcoming this summer.

Previous winners of the  Rooney Prize include Bernard Farrell, Neil Jordan, Frank McGuinness, Deirdre Madden and Anne Enright.

The selection committee this year comprised:
Terence Brown,  Chair of the selection committee, critic and author (Professor of Anglo-Irish literature, TCD);
Gerald Dawe, poet and critic (Director, The Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing, TCD);
Dr Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, novelist and dramatist (National Library of Ireland)
Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, poet (Professor, School of English, TCD)
Carlo Gébler, novelist and dramatist;
Dr Riana O’Dwyer critic and editor (Department of English, National University of Ireland at Galway)

Commenting on the significance of Leontia Flynn’s literary work, Professor Brown said that her work is marked by lyrical grace combined with intelligent lightness of touch and exhilarating humour.

The Rooney Prize is awarded through the generosity of Dr Daniel M. Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the USA   and his wife, Patricia . It was established in 1975 and is awarded annually to a published Irish writer under forty  whose work the selection committee considers shows outstanding promise. The prize is administered by  The Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing, School of English , Trinity College Dublin.