Colette Bryce is a poet, freelance writer, and editor. She was a Fellow in Creative Writing at the

University of Dundee , mottoeng = "My soul doth magnify the Lord" , established = 1967 – gained independent university status by Royal Charter1897 – Constituent college of the University of St Andrews1881 – University College , ...

from 2003 to 2005, and a North East Literary Fellow at the

University of Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick unive ...

from 2005 to 2007. She was the Poetry Editor of

Poetry London ''Poetry London'' is a literary periodical based in London. Published three times a year, it features poems, reviews, and other articles. Profile Adopting the title of an earlier bimonthly publication which ran from 1939 to 1951, ''Poetry London' ...

from 2009 to 2013. In 2019 Bryce succeeded

Eavan Boland Eavan Aisling Boland (24 September 1944 – 27 April 2020) was an Irish poet, author, and professor. She was a professor at Stanford University, where she had taught from 1996. Her work deals with the Irish national identity, and the role of w ...

as editor of ''

Poetry Ireland Review ''Poetry Ireland Review'' is a journal of Irish poetry published three times a year by Poetry Ireland, the national Irish poetry organisation. ''Poetry Ireland Review'' publishes the work of both emerging and established Irish and internationa ...

''.

Early life

Bryce was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, where she was educated at

Thornhill College Thornhill College is a Roman Catholic grammar school for girls. Located in Derry, Northern Ireland, it has a student population of approximately 1500 and a staff of 100 teachers. History The nucleus of the present Thornhill College commenced ...

. Bryce lived in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

until 2002 when she moved to Scotland. She moved to the North East of England in 2005.

Works

Bryce's first published work was included in the 1995 volume ''Anvil New Poets'', ed.

Carol Ann Duffy Dame Carol Ann Duffy (born 23 December 1955) is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is a professor of contemporary poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Poet Laureate in May 2009, resigning in 2019. She was the first ...

, which also introduced the work of poets Kate Clanchy and

Alice Oswald Alice Priscilla Lyle Oswald (née Keen; born 31 August 1966) is a British poet from Reading, Berkshire. Her work won the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2002 and the Griffin Poetry Prize in 2017. In September 2017, she was named as BBC Radio 4's second Poe ...

, among others. That year she won an Eric Gregory Award. Her poetry appears in the recent anthologies ''Modern Women Poets'' (Bloodaxe), and ''The New Irish Poets'' (Bloodaxe), ''Forward Book of Poetry 2009'' (Forward), ''Hand in Hand'' (Faber) and the Penguin Book of Irish Poetry (Penguin, 2010). Her first collection ''The Heel of Bernadette'', published in 2000 by Picador, won the

Aldeburgh Aldeburgh ( ) is a coastal town in the county of Suffolk, England. Located to the north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the composer Benjamin Britten and remains the centre of the international Alde ...

Poetry Festival Prize and the Strong Award (now known as the Strong/Shine Award) for new Irish poets. In 2003, Bryce won the

National Poetry Competition The National Poetry Competition is an annual poetry prize established in 1978 in the United Kingdom. It is run by the UK-based Poetry Society and accepts entries from all over the world, with over 10,000 poems being submitted to the competition ...

for her poem, ''The Full Indian Rope Trick'', which became the title-poem of her 2004 collection, short-listed for the TS Eliot Award the following year. A pamphlet, ''The Observations of Aleksandr Svetlov'', appeared from Donut Press in 2007. Her third collection ''Self-Portrait in the Dark'' was published in 2008 and shortlisted for the

Poetry Now Award The Poetry Now Award is an annual literary prize presented for the best single volume of poetry by an Irish poet. The €5,000 award was first given in 2005 (reduced to €2,500 in 2013) and is presented during annual Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown ...

in 2009. It includes the poem ''Self-Portrait in a Broken Wing-Mirror'' that won the

Academi Blackwater was an American private military company founded on December 26, 1996 by former Navy SEAL officer Erik Prince. It was renamed Xe Services in 2009 and known as Academi since 2011 after it was acquired by a group of private investors ...

Cardiff International Poetry Competition in 2007. In 2010, she received a Cholmondely Award for poets from the

Society of Authors The Society of Authors (SoA) is a United Kingdom trade union for professional writers, illustrators and literary translators, founded in 1884 to protect the rights and further the interests of authors. , it represents over 12,000 members and ass ...

. A pamphlet ″Ballasting the Ark″, written in response to a Leverhulme fellowship at Dove Marine Laboratory in Cullercoats, was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award for new work in poetry in 2012. Her 2014 collection ″The Whole & Rain-domed Universe″, which draws on the author's experience of growing up in Derry during the Troubles, was awarded a special Christopher Ewart-Biggs Award in memory of Seamus Heaney. The book was also short-listed for Forward Prize for Best Poetry Collection, The Costa Poetry Award, and The Roehampton Poetry Prize. “Selected Poems” was awarded the Pigott Prize for Irish poetry in 2017. Her collection “The M Pages” was published by Picador in 2020.

Bibliography

*The Heel of Bernadette (Picador 2000) *The Full Indian Rope Trick (Picador 2004) *The Observations of Aleksandr Svetlov (pamphlet Donut 2007) *Ink on Paper: Poetry and Art (ed. Mudfog 2007) *Self-Portrait in the Dark (Picador 2008) *"Ballasting the Ark" (pamphlet NCLA 2012) *"The Whole & Rain-domed Universe" (Picador 2014) *Selected Poems (Picador 2017) *The M pages (Picador 2020)

References

External links

Colette Bryce reads on PoetCasting Colette Bryce's Poems
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bryce, Colette 20th-century British women writers 20th-century Irish women writers 20th-century Irish writers 20th-century poets from Northern Ireland 21st-century British poets 21st-century British women writers 21st-century Irish poets 21st-century Irish women writers 21st-century Irish writers 21st-century writers from Northern Ireland British LGBT poets Living people Writers from Derry (city) Women poets from Northern Ireland 21st-century women writers from Northern Ireland 20th-century women writers from Northern Ireland 21st-century LGBT people