In anticipation of the forthcoming publication of our anthology Manifest, we wish to offer an update on this year’s contenders for the 10th anniversary of the Seamus Heaney Award for New Writing, by revealing the long list of poems.
Congratulations are in order for:
- Abstract Expressionism — David Atkinson
- Bad Grief — Clare McCotter
- Know him Now — Clare McCotter
- Because there is no wake — Maura Johnston
- Choughs — Mark Cooper
- For the Mothers, No Balm — Michelle Dennehy
- I am Reaching through this Poem — Michelle Dennehy
- Candlesticks — Sharon Flynn
- Love — Sharon Flynn
- Orkney — Sharon Flynn
- The Swans of Gaza — Robin Holmes
- Untitled (There was nothing I could do so, I stopped to watch a Heron) — Wendy Sinnamon
As a selection panel, we pored over all the submissions we received for months before making our collective review. To these poets (especially to those with multiple poems in contention) and indeed to all who submitted, thank you for your generosity and patience.
Details of the launch of the Manifest anthology will be announced very shortly, as will arrangements to receive the publication.
Conor Shields, chair of selection panel
