Catherine Byron (born 22 August 1947) is an Irish poet who often collaborates with visual and sound artists.

Biography

Catherine Greenfield was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

to a mother from

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

and was raised in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

. She has lived in Oxford, Scotland, Derry and County Donegal. She became Catherine Byron when she married at about twenty and had daughters. Educated in Somerville College, Oxford, Byron studied Classics and wrote poetry for most of her life until she married. She stopped writing then for about ten years. Since resuming poetry Byron has published six collections. As well as writing her own poetry, Byron has studied

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.

and wrote the work ''Out of Step: Pursuing Seamus Heaney to Purgatory''. Byron frequently works both with artist and calligrapher Denis Brown, and painter and printmaker Eileen Coxon. She has been artist in residence at the

Hayward Gallery The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings (the Roy ...

and the department of Glass & Ceramics at the

University of Sunderland , mottoeng = Sweetly absorbing knowledge , established = 1901 - Sunderland Technical College1969 - Sunderland Polytechnic1992 - University of Sunderland (gained university status) , staff = , chancellor = Emeli ...

. She has taught writing and Medieval Literature at

Nottingham Trent University Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as a new university in 1992, although its roots go back to 1843 with the establishment of the Nottingham Government School of Design, w ...

Bibliography

*The Getting of Vellum (Salmon 2001) *The Fat-Hen Field Hospital (Bristol 1993) *Settlements and Samhain (Bristol 1993) *Out of Step: Pursuing Seamus Heaney to Purgatory (prose) (Bristol 1992)

References and sources

1947 births Living people People from London Irish women poets 20th-century Irish poets 20th-century Irish women writers 21st-century Irish poets 21st-century Irish women writers Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford {{Ireland-poet-stub