Kevin Higgins (1967 – 10 January 2023) was an Irish poet.

Early life and education

At the age of 15 he joined Galway West Labour Party, and became a member of the local Labour Youth section.

Activity

Higgins lived in London in the late 1980s where he was active in the "anti-poll tax movement". He lived in Galway from the mid-1990s, and with his wife, Susan Millar DuMars, co-organised the Over The Edge literary events in

Galway City Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city on ...

. He also facilitated poetry workshops at the Galway Arts Centre; taught

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

at the Galway Technical Institute and National University of Ireland, Galway, and was Writer-in-Residence at Merlin Park Hospital. He was, with Michael S. Begnal, a founding co-editor of literary magazine ''The Burning Bush''. Higgins's first collection of poems, ''The Boy With No Face'', was published by Salmon Poetry in February 2005. This was short-listed for the 2006 Strong Award for Best First Collection by an Irish Poet. His second collection of poems, ''Time Gentlemen, Please'', was published in March 2008 by Salmon. In an interview in March 2008 he sharply criticised the contemporary left. Some of the poems in ''Time Gentlemen, Please'' were in turn criticised by the Socialist Workers Party. However, others on the left have praised his work. His fourth book, ''The Ghost In The Lobby'', was published by Salmon in 2014. He won the 2003 Cúirt Festival Poetry Grand Slam and was awarded a literature bursary by the

Arts Council of Ireland The Arts Council (sometimes called the Arts Council of Ireland; legally ga, An Chomhairle Ealaíon) is the independent "Irish government agency for developing the arts." About It was established in 1951 by the Government of Ireland, to encour ...

in 2005. Higgins is primarily a satirical poet. His poetry is discussed in Justin Quinn's ''Cambridge Introduction to Modern Irish Poetry''. In 2009, Higgins and his wife Susan Millar DuMars were the subject of a short documentary by Des Kilbane called 'Rhyming Couplet', which was screened at the 2009

Galway Film Fleadh The Galway Film Fleadh (; Irish for "festival") is an international film festival founded in 1989 as part of the Galway Arts Festival. Describing itself as Ireland’s leading film festival, the event is held every July in Galway city in Irela ...

. In August 2010, Higgins contributed to an ebook collection of political poems entitled ''Emergency Verse - Poetry in Defence of the Welfare State'', edited by Alan Morrison.

References

External links

Higgins featured on the Irish podcasting site Podcasts.ieKevin Higgins obituary, Rochford Street Review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, Kevin 1967 births 2023 deaths Writers from London Writers from County Galway 20th-century Irish poets 20th-century Irish male writers 21st-century Irish poets 21st-century Irish male writers English male poets People from Galway (city)