Carcanet Press - Sinead Morrissey

About
Reviews
Awards
Audio
Gallery

Sinéad Morrissey was born in Northern Ireland in 1972 and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. Her awards include a Lannan Literary Fellowship (2007), First Prize in the UK National Poetry Competition (2007), the Irish Times Poetry Now Award (2009, 2013) and the T.S. Eliot Prize (2013). In 2016 she received the E.M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. On Balance was awarded the Forward Prize in 2017. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2019. She has served as Belfast Poet Laureate (2013-14) and is currently Professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University.

Sinéad Morrissey is a frequent contributor to PN Review.

'Morrissey's telling of ... life is beautifully done, with no sentimentality or mawkishness [...] A brilliant book.'

The High Window

'stunning, accessible poems'

Damian Smyth, Belfast Telegraph

'Morrissey can spin ingenious epyllions with just a line and a concept'

Ange Mlinko, LRB

'On Balance demonstrates that poems, far from being an obsolete technology, were never just mnemonic machines in the first place: they were always simply the perfect instrument for human voices, both living and (un)dead.'

Ange Mlinko, LRB
'Morrissey has enjoyed peer admiration from the outset for work that, in six carefully curated collections, has achieved formal poise, but also real wit and emotional heft.'
The Sunday Times, Twelve poets to read now
'Propulsive, compelling, melding narrative and lyric, Morrissey's poetry combines deep feeling with a probing, philosophical intelligence.'
The Poetry Review
'Northern Irish poetry looks like it's about to take centre stage again, and the woman leading the charge is Sinead Morrissey.'
Cork Evening Echo Best Books of 2017
'A game-changing volume of poems in her shining career.'
Damian Smyth, Head of Drama and Literature at Arts Council Northern Ireland, Belfast Telegraph
   'Sinead Morrissey's On Balance is a book of poetry that embraces the art of fiction, and that makes you think about the world being off kilter, of suspension, of what might be required to have balance. Amazing. And the deserving winner of the Forward Prize this year.'
Scottish Makar Jackie Kay, Herald Scotland Books of the Year 2017
'Sinead Morrissey's On Balance was a worthy winner of the 2017 Forward Prize. A celebration of resourcefulness, from motherhood to the first woman to build an aeroplane, its language is as poised as the acrobats it catches.'
Jeremy Noel-Tod, from the Sunday Times Book of the Year 2017 'The poem Nativity, if it stood alone, makes Sinead Morrissey's On Balance a sweet Christmas choice, but it is only one of a number of thought-provoking poems in her sixth, prize-winning collection. Morrissey floats the reader glimpses of desires unmet, memories still fluid; the stories swim beyond the edge of the page, buoyed up by possibility.'
Hilary Mantel, from the Guardian 'Books of the Year' 2017
  'I've always leaned on poetry as something more thrilling than...well, almost anything - religion, for instance. The older I get, the more essential poetry seems and, alas, the converse for the latter. Two books from this year give further proof of this: Sinéad Morrissey's starry poetic engineering in On Balance (Carcanet) and Michael Longley's angelic Angel Hill (Jonathan Cape), which was also proof, maybe, that Homer never died. Northern Ireland's poets continue to outstare miserable politics and offer instead the better firearms of beauty and truth.'
Sebastian Barry, from the New Statesman 'Books of the Year 2017'
  'Poet Sinéad Morrissey gains power with each collection. She's one of those generous writers whose images and structures open so invitingly that your response is to grab a pen and write back to her: in other words, an inspiration.'
Hilary Mantel, from the TLS 'Books of the Year 2017'   'I can't not mention Sinéad Morrissey - a wide-ranging, capacious, brilliant and entirely satisfying collection of poems that will be read many decades hence.'
Andrew Marr, from the New Statesman 'Books of the Year 2017'
'Morrissey is possessed of her own invigorating brand of Irish fluency and an imagination that never closes.'
Kate Kellaway, Guardian
'Morrissey's clarity and confidence mean that On Balance approaches each of her subjects with great fluency and command.'
The Irish Times
'The outstanding poet of her generation.'
Stephen Knight, Independent 'In a year of brilliantly themed collections, the judges were unanimous in choosing Sinéad Morrissey's Parallax as the winner. Politically, historically and personally ambitious, expressed in beautifully turned language, her book is as many-angled and any-angled as its title suggests.'
Ian Duhig, Chair of the 2013 T S Eliot Prize Judges 'One of the most gifted of yet another generation of talented Irish poets.'
The Independent on Sunday.

Awards won by Sinead Morrissey Winner, 2024 The Seamus Heaney Award, Japan
(Found Architecture) Short-listed, 2021 The Pigott Poetry Prize
(Found Architecture) Winner, 2020 The Gdansk European Poet of Freedom Literary Award (On Balance) Winner, 2017 The Forward Prize for Best Collection (On Balance) Winner, 2017 Poetry Book Society Choice (On Balance) Short-listed, 2017 The Costa Poetry Award (On Balance) Short-listed, 2018 The Pigott Poetry Prize
(On Balance) Short-listed, 2018 The 2018 Roehampton Poetry Prize
(On Balance) Winner, 2009 T.S Eliot Prize
(The State of the Prisons) Winner, 2014 Irish Times Poetry Now Award
(Parallax) Winner, 2013 T S Eliot Prize for Poetry (Parallax) Short-listed, 2013 Forward Prize for Best Collection (Parallax) Joint winner, 2005 Michael Hartnett Award for Poetry
(The State of the Prisons) Short-listed, 2005 T.S. Eliot Prize
(The State of the Prisons) Winner, 2002 Rupert and Eithne Strong Award
(Between Here and There) Winner, 2002 MaCaulay Fellowship
Short-listed, 2002 T.S. Eliot Prize
(Between Here and There) Winner, 1996 An Eric Gregory Award
(There Was Fire In Vancouver) Winner, 1990 Patrick Kavanagh Award Short-listed, 2005 Irish Times Poetry Prize
(The State of the Prisons) Short-listed, 2005 John Llewellyn Rhys Commonwealth Literature Prize
(The State of the Prisons) Winner, 2005 Poetry Book Society Recommendation
(The State of the Prisons) Winner, 2007 Lannan Literary Fellowship
Winner, 2009 Poetry Book Society Choice
(Through the Square Window)

Sinead Morrissey reads from T S Eliot Prize-winning Parallax at the Royal Festival Hall

Overview (0 January 2014)
From T S Eliot Prize 2013 (0 January 2014)

Sinéad Morrissey and Chris Holifield (0 January 2014)
From T S Eliot Prize 2013 (0 January 2014)

Sinéad Morrissey at the T S Eliot Prize Ceremony (0 January 2014)
From T S Eliot Prize 2013 (0 January 2014)

T S Eliot Prize Ceremony (0 January 2014)
From T S Eliot Prize 2013 (0 January 2014)

Sinéad Morrissey and Chris Holifield at the T S Eliot Prize Ceremony (0 January 2014)
From T S Eliot Prize 2013 (0 January 2014)

Sinéad Morrissey at the T S Eliot Prize Ceremony (0 January 2014)
From T S Eliot Prize 2013 (0 January 2014)

T S Eliot Prize Ceremony (0 January 2014)
From T S Eliot Prize 2013 (0 January 2014)

Sinéad Morrissey and Okey Nzelu at the T S Eliot Prize Ceremony (0 January 2014)
From T S Eliot Prize 2013 (0 January 2014)

Quote of the Day If it were not for Carcanet, my library would be unbearably impoverished. Louis de Bernieres Home Events Authors Titles Paperback Hardback Limited Edition Journal CD eBook Audiobook Exact Editions Imprints Anvil Press Poetry Aspects of Portugal Carcanet Classics Carcanet Fiction Carcanet Film Carcanet Poetry Fyfield Books Little Island Press Lives and Letters Northern House OxfordPoets PN Review Information About Us PN Review Turns 50 Years Old! Carcanet Celebrates 50 Years! Academic Enquiries Authors for Events Catalogue Contact Us Copyright and Permissions Join Our Mailing List Opportunities at Carcanet Press Enquiries PN Review PN Review Creative Writing Prize Returns Policy Shopping Guide Stocklist Submission Guidelines Trade Information Resources Audio Gallery Reading Group Guides Video
Book Search Search > advanced search Subscribe to our mailing list
Order by 16th December to receive books in time for Christmas. Please bear in mind that all orders may be subject to postal delays that are beyond our control.
Sinead Morrissey Books by this author: Selected Poems (Ed.) Found Architecture On Balance Parallax Through the Square Window The State of the Prisons Between Here and There There Was Fire In Vancouver About Reviews Awards Audio Gallery Sinéad Morrissey was born in Northern Ireland in 1972 and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. Her awards include a Lannan Literary Fellowship (2007), First Prize in the UK National Poetry Competition (2007), the Irish Times Poetry Now Award (2009, 2013) and the T.S. Eliot Prize (2013). In 2016 she received the E.M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. On Balance was awarded the Forward Prize in 2017. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2019. She has served as Belfast Poet Laureate (2013-14) and is currently Professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University. Sinéad Morrissey is a frequent contributor to PN Review. 'Morrissey's telling of ... life is beautifully done, with no sentimentality or mawkishness [...] A brilliant book.' *The High Window* 'stunning, accessible poems' Damian Smyth, Belfast Telegraph 'Morrissey can spin ingenious epyllions with just a line and a concept' Ange Mlinko, LRB 'On Balance demonstrates that poems, far from being an obsolete technology, were never just mnemonic machines in the first place: they were always simply the perfect instrument for human voices, both living and (un)dead.' Ange Mlinko, LRB 'Morrissey has enjoyed peer admiration from the outset for work that, in six carefully curated collections, has achieved formal poise, but also real wit and emotional heft.' The Sunday Times, Twelve poets to read now 'Propulsive, compelling, melding narrative and lyric, Morrissey's poetry combines deep feeling with a probing, philosophical intelligence.' The Poetry Review 'Northern Irish poetry looks like it's about to take centre stage again, and the woman leading the charge is Sinead Morrissey.' Cork Evening Echo Best Books of 2017 'A game-changing volume of poems in her shining career.' Damian Smyth, Head of Drama and Literature at Arts Council Northern Ireland, Belfast Telegraph 'Sinead Morrissey's On Balance is a book of poetry that embraces the art of fiction, and that makes you think about the world being off kilter, of suspension, of what might be required to have balance. Amazing. And the deserving winner of the Forward Prize this year.' Scottish Makar Jackie Kay, Herald Scotland Books of the Year 2017 'Sinead Morrissey's On Balance was a worthy winner of the 2017 Forward Prize. A celebration of resourcefulness, from motherhood to the first woman to build an aeroplane, its language is as poised as the acrobats it catches.' *Jeremy Noel-Tod, from the Sunday Times* Book of the Year 2017** 'The poem Nativity, if it stood alone, makes Sinead Morrissey's On Balance a sweet Christmas choice, but it is only one of a number of thought-provoking poems in her sixth, prize-winning collection. Morrissey floats the reader glimpses of desires unmet, memories still fluid; the stories swim beyond the edge of the page, buoyed up by possibility.' *Hilary Mantel, from the Guardian* 'Books of the Year' 2017 'I've always leaned on poetry as something more thrilling than...well, almost anything - religion, for instance. The older I get, the more essential poetry seems and, alas, the converse for the latter. Two books from this year give further proof of this: Sinéad Morrissey's starry poetic engineering in On Balance (Carcanet) and Michael Longley's angelic Angel Hill (Jonathan Cape), which was also proof, maybe, that Homer never died. Northern Ireland's poets continue to outstare miserable politics and offer instead the better firearms of beauty and truth.' Sebastian Barry, from the New Statesman 'Books of the Year 2017' 'Poet Sinéad Morrissey gains power with each collection. She's one of those generous writers whose images and structures open so invitingly that your response is to grab a pen and write back to her: in other words, an inspiration.' Hilary Mantel, from the TLS 'Books of the Year 2017'** 'I can't not mention Sinéad Morrissey - a wide-ranging, capacious, brilliant and entirely satisfying collection of poems that will be read many decades hence.' *Andrew Marr, from the New Statesman* 'Books of the Year 2017'** 'Morrissey is possessed of her own invigorating brand of Irish fluency and an imagination that never closes.' Kate Kellaway, Guardian 'Morrissey's clarity and confidence mean that On Balance approaches each of her subjects with great fluency and command.' The Irish Times 'The outstanding poet of her generation.' Stephen Knight, Independent 'In a year of brilliantly themed collections, the judges were unanimous in choosing Sinéad Morrissey's Parallax as the winner. Politically, historically and personally ambitious, expressed in beautifully turned language, her book is as many-angled and any-angled as its title suggests.' Ian Duhig, Chair of the 2013 T S Eliot Prize Judges 'One of the most gifted of yet another generation of talented Irish poets.' The Independent on Sunday. Awards won by Sinead Morrissey Winner, 2024 The Seamus Heaney Award, Japan (Found Architecture) Short-listed, 2021 The Pigott Poetry Prize (Found Architecture) Winner, 2020 The Gdansk European Poet of Freedom Literary Award (On Balance) Winner, 2017 The Forward Prize for Best Collection (On Balance) Winner, 2017 Poetry Book Society Choice (On Balance) Short-listed, 2017 The Costa Poetry Award (On Balance) Short-listed, 2018 The Pigott Poetry Prize (On Balance) Short-listed, 2018 The 2018 Roehampton Poetry Prize (On Balance) Winner, 2009 T.S Eliot Prize (The State of the Prisons) Winner, 2014 Irish Times Poetry Now Award (Parallax) Winner, 2013 T S Eliot Prize for Poetry (Parallax) Short-listed, 2013 Forward Prize for Best Collection (Parallax) Joint winner, 2005 Michael Hartnett Award for Poetry (The State of the Prisons) Short-listed, 2005 T.S. Eliot Prize (The State of the Prisons) Winner, 2002 Rupert and Eithne Strong Award (Between Here and There) Winner, 2002 MaCaulay Fellowship Short-listed, 2002 T.S. Eliot Prize (Between Here and There) Winner, 1996 An Eric Gregory Award (There Was Fire In Vancouver) Winner, 1990 Patrick Kavanagh Award Short-listed, 2005 Irish Times Poetry Prize (The State of the Prisons) Short-listed, 2005 John Llewellyn Rhys Commonwealth Literature Prize (The State of the Prisons) Winner, 2005 Poetry Book Society Recommendation (The State of the Prisons) Winner, 2007 Lannan Literary Fellowship Winner, 2009 Poetry Book Society Choice (Through the Square Window) Sinead Morrissey reads from T S Eliot Prize-winning Parallax at the Royal Festival Hall Overview (0 January 2014) From T S Eliot Prize 2013 (0 January 2014) Sinéad Morrissey and Chris Holifield (0 January 2014) From T S Eliot Prize 2013 (0 January 2014) Sinéad Morrissey at the T S Eliot Prize Ceremony (0 January 2014) From T S Eliot Prize 2013 (0 January 2014) T S Eliot Prize Ceremony (0 January 2014) From T S Eliot Prize 2013 (0 January 2014) Sinéad Morrissey and Chris Holifield at the T S Eliot Prize Ceremony (0 January 2014) From T S Eliot Prize 2013 (0 January 2014) Sinéad Morrissey at the T S Eliot Prize Ceremony (0 January 2014) From T S Eliot Prize 2013 (0 January 2014) Sinéad Morrissey at the T S Eliot Prize Ceremony (0 January 2014) From T S Eliot Prize 2013 (0 January 2014) T S Eliot Prize Ceremony (0 January 2014) From T S Eliot Prize 2013 (0 January 2014) T S Eliot Prize Ceremony (0 January 2014) From T S Eliot Prize 2013 (0 January 2014) Sinéad Morrissey and Okey Nzelu at the T S Eliot Prize Ceremony (0 January 2014) From T S Eliot Prize 2013 (0 January 2014)	Share this... Quick Links Carcanet Poetry Carcanet Classics Carcanet Fiction Carcanet Film Lives and Letters PN Review Video Carcanet Celebrates 50 Years! The Carcanet Blog One Little Room: Peter McDonald read more Collected Poems: Mimi Khalvati read more Invisible Dog: Fabio Morbito, translated by Richard Gwyn read more Dante's Purgatorio: Philip Terry read more Billy 'Nibs' Buckshot: John Gallas read more Emotional Support Horse: Claudine Toutoungi read more
We thank the Arts Council England for their support and assistance in this interactive Project.
Privacy Statement Sitemap RSS Feeds Home Events Authors Titles Imprints Information Resources This website ©2000-2024 Carcanet Press Ltd