Nessa O'Mahony is an Irish poet and a freelance teacher and writer.

Life and work

Born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, she was educated in

St Louis High School, Rathmines St. Louis High School is an all-girls secondary school located in Rathmines, Dublin. History The school was founded in 1913 by the Sisters of St. Louis, a religious community of nuns which was founded in post-revolutionary France in 1842. The ...

before going on to

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

to study English. She was a recipient of the Mary Colum Award for being the highest-placed female student in English Literature for the BA in 1984. O'Mahony worked as a journalist in

RTÉ Aertel RTÉ Aertel was a teletext service broadcast on RTÉ One and RTÉ2 in Ireland from 1987 until 2023. It was also available in its entirety on the Internet until 2019. History The teletext service began development in the mid-1980s, with tests as ...

and Lafferty Publications, before switching to public relations with roles in the Irish Insurance Federation and

Arts Council (Ireland) The Arts Council (sometimes called the Arts Council of Ireland; legally ) is the independent "Irish government agency for developing the arts". About It was established in 1951 by the government of Ireland, to encourage interest in Irish art ( ...

, where she was Head of Public Affairs (1999-2002). She began writing poetry in 1994. She published her first collection of poems, Bar Talk, in 1999, and was a regular presenter on the radio show Writers Inc. Anna Livia FM from 1997 to 1999. She returned to full-time education in 2002, completing a master's in creative writing at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

(2003) and a PhD in creative and critical writing at the

University of Wales Bangor Bangor University () is a public research university in Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales. It was established by Royal Charter in 1885 as the University College of North Wales (UCNW; ), and in 1893 became one of the founding institutions of the federal ...

in 2006. Since then she has won awards for her poetry, worked as assistant editor of the UK literary journal ''Orbis'', and teaches workshops on poetry and writing through a number of venues including the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

. Her works have been translated into several languages and published across the world. She lives in Rathfarnham.

Awards and bursaries

* 1996 Joint winner of the Kerry International Summer School Poetry Competition * 1997 National Women's Poetry Competition * shortlisted Patrick Kavanagh Prize * shortlisted Hennessy Literature Awards * 2004, 2011 and 2018 Awarded an Arts Council of Ireland literature bursary * 2005 Simba Gill Fellowship * 2007 Artists’ bursary from South Dublin County Council * Artist in residence at the John Hume Institute for Global Irish Studies at University College Dublin

Criticism

Novelist

Joseph O'Connor Joseph Victor O'Connor (born 20 September 1963) is an Irish novelist. His 2002 historical novel '' Star of the Sea'' was an international number one bestseller. Before success as an author, he was a journalist with the '' Sunday Tribune'' newspa ...

(''In Sight of Home'') :

‘a moving, powerful and richly pleasurable read, audaciously imagined and achieved’

Poet

Tess Gallagher Tess Gallagher (born 1943) is an American poet, essayist, and short story writer. Among her many honors were a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts award, Maxine Cushing Gray Foundation Award. Biography ...

(''Her Father’s Daughter'') :

‘words are her witching sticks and she employs them with beautiful, engaging intent, the better to make present what has preceded and what approaches.’

Bibliography

* Bar Talk (Italics Press, 1999) * Trapping a Ghost (Bluechrome, 2005) * In Sight of Home(Salmon, 2009) * Her Father's Daughter (Salmon, 2014) * The Branchman (Arlen House, 2018) * The Hollow Woman on the Island (Salmon, 2019) Co-editions * Eavan Boland. Inside History (with Dr. Siobhán Campbell) (Arlen House 2016) * Metamorphic. 21st century poets respond to Ovid (with Paul Munden) (Recent Work Press 2017)

References

External links

Official website biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:OMahony, Nessa Living people Alumni of the University of East Anglia Irish women poets 20th-century Irish poets 20th-century Irish women writers 21st-century Irish poets 21st-century Irish women writers Writers from Dublin (city) Year of birth missing (living people) People educated at St Louis High School, Rathmines Alumni of University College Dublin