__NOTOC__ Sally Read (born 1971 in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

) is a British poet and writer and former psychiatric nurse.

Early life and education

Sally Read attended Tavistock Comprehensive School. She received a BA from

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

and then an MA from the

University of South Dakota The University of South Dakota (USD) is a public research university in Vermillion, South Dakota. Established by the Dakota Territory legislature in 1862, 27 years before the establishment of the state of South Dakota, USD is the flagship univ ...

Work and awards

Read shared the

Eric Gregory Award The Eric Gregory Award is a literary award given annually by the Society of Authors for a collection by British poets under the age of 30. The award was founded in 1960 by Dr. Eric Gregory to support and encourage young poets. In 2021, the seven ...

in 2001. Her first collection, ''The Point of Splitting'', was shortlisted for the Jerwood-Aldeburgh First Collection prize. A selection of her works, ''Punto di Rottura'', is also available in Italian. Her poems have been anthologized in numerous volumes, including "Roddy Lumsden's ''Identity Parade'' and Forward's ''Poems of the Decade''. Read's first collection of poetry since her conversion, ''Dawn of this Hunger'' took first place for poetry at the Catholic Media Association Awards in 2022. She has also written for the Times Literary Supplement, The Catholic Herald, The Tablet, The Humanum Review and Magnificat among other periodicals and papers. Read has also published a memoir, ''Night's Bright Darkness'' (2016) (see below) with a further memoir ''The Mary Pages'' forthcoming from Word on Fire. Read's book ''Annunciation'' was the subject of a short film for EWTNGB by Norman Servais and Kevin Turley. She is editor of Word on Fire's ''100 Great Catholic Poems'' (Nov 2023)

Religious and personal life

A lifelong atheist, Read converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in 2010.Catholic News Agency
/ref> She wrote a book about her conversion experience, ''Night's Bright Darkness''. Read was poet in residence from 2011-2021 at The Hermitage of the Three Holy Hierarchs, which is an eparchial-rite form of consecrated life under the jurisdiction of Bishop

Bryan Bayda Bryan Joseph Bayda (born August 21, 1961 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) is the bishop of the Eparchy of Toronto and Eastern Canada in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Bayda was born in Saskatoon on August 21, 1961. Upon completing high scho ...

, the Eparch of

Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saskatoon The Eparchy of Saskatoon ( uk, Саскатунська єпархія Української греко-католицької церкви) is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church ecclesiastical territory or eparchy of the Catholic Church in the C ...

. Fr. Gregory Hrynkiw, of the group, played a role in her conversion. Read lives with her husband and daughter (Celia Florence, to whom her book “Annunciation: A Call to Faith in a Broken World” is dedicated) in

Santa Marinella Santa Marinella is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Metropolitan City of Rome in the Italy, Italian region Lazio, located about northwest of Rome. It includes the beach resort of Santa Severa (the ancient Pyrg ...

Works

* ''The Point of Splitting'' (Bloodaxe Books, 2005) * ''Broken Sleep'' (Bloodaxe Books, 2009) * ''The Day Hospital'' (Bloodaxe Books, 2012) * ''Night's Bright Darkness: A Modern Conversion Story'' (

Ignatius Press Ignatius Press is a Catholic publishing house based in San Francisco, California, US. It was founded in 1978 by Father Joseph Fessio, a Jesuit priest and former pupil of Pope Benedict XVI. Ignatius Press also produces ''Catholic World Report'', ' ...

, 2016) (Translated into Polish, Slovenian, Slovakian and Czech) * ''Annunciation: A Call to Faith in a Broken World'' (Ignatius Press, 2019) * ''Dawn of this Hunger'' (Angelico Press, Second Spring, 2021) * ''100 Great Catholic Poems'' (Word on Fire, November 2023), edited and commentary by Read * ''The Mary Pages'' (forthcoming from Word on Fire)

References

External links

* Converts to Roman Catholicism from atheism or agnosticism English Catholic poets English Roman Catholic writers Alumni of the Open University University of South Dakota alumni English Roman Catholics English expatriates in Italy People from the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital 1971 births Living people {{UK-poet-stub