Prestigious award for Galway poet

The winner of this year’s Michael Hartnett Poetry Award, in memory of the late Limerick poet, has been won by Galway writer Eva Bourke.

The award is for her collection Seeing Yellow, published by Dedalus Press.

The judges, poets Thomas McCarthy and Geraldine Mitchell, described Seeing Yellow as “stunning” and “one of the most satisfyingly assembled collections of recent times”.

In their citation, they stated that “poems ranging widely in tone and theme, in shape and colour, come together subtly and seamlessly to form one wide, deep, smoothly flowing river”.

They praised Eva as a “masterful poet [who] explores the very essence of being, of childhood, of youthful attachment and deep personal loss, in poetry of the most disciplined, considered and discreet verse-craft.

“In an era of brilliant poets and highly ambitious poetry collections, Seeing Yellow claims a unique and noble place for itself: it is a glorious cornet solo heard momentarily, like the voice of Michael Hartnett, above the great orchestra of Irish literary life”, the judges concluded.

Eva Bourke, who lives in Galway City, described the win as “unexpected honour” as she praised the power of poetry.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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