Sean O'Brien (born 19 December 1952 in London) is a British poet, critic and playwright. His prizes include the Eric Gregory Award (1979), the Somerset Maugham Award (1984), the Cholmondeley Award (1988), the Forward Poetry Prize (1995, 2001 and 2007) and the T. S. Eliot Prize (2007). He is one of only three poets (the others being

Ted Hughes Edward James "Ted" Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest wri ...

and

John Burnside John Burnside FRSL FRSE (born 19 March 1955) is a Scottish writer. He is one of only three poets (the others being Ted Hughes and Sean O'Brien) to have won both the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Forward Poetry Prize for the same book (''Black C ...

) to have won both the T. S. Eliot Prize and the

Forward Poetry Prize The Forward Prizes for Poetry are major British awards for poetry, presented annually at a public ceremony in London. They were founded in 1992 by William Sieghart with the aim of celebrating excellence in poetry and increasing its audience. The ...

for the same collection of poems (''

The Drowned Book ''The Drowned Book'' is a collection of poetry written by Sean O'Brien, a British poet, critic, novelist, broadcaster, and playwright. In 2007 it was awarded with The Forward prize for best collection (The third time this author has received t ...

''). He grew up in Hull, and was educated at

Hymers College Hymers College is a co-educational independent day school in Kingston upon Hull, located on the site of the old Botanical Gardens. It is one of the leading schools in the East Riding of Yorkshire and a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistres ...

and

Selwyn College, Cambridge Selwyn College, Cambridge (formally Selwyn College in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1882 by the Selwyn Memorial Committee in memory of George Augustus Selwyn (18 ...

. He has lived in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

since 1990, where he teaches at the university. He was the Weidenfeld Visiting Professor at St. Anne's College, Oxford for 2016-17.

Career

O Brien's book of essays on contemporary poetry, ''The Deregulated Muse'' (Bloodaxe), was published in 1998, as was his anthology ''The Firebox: Poetry in Britain and Ireland after 1945'' (Picador). ''Cousin Coat: Selected Poems 1976–2001'' (Picador) was published in 2002. Sean O'Brien's new verse version of Dante's ''Inferno'' was published by Picador in October 2006. His six collections of poetry to date have all won awards. In 2007 he won the Northern Rock Foundation Writer's Award,

Forward Prize The Forward Prizes for Poetry are major British awards for poetry, presented annually at a public ceremony in London. They were founded in 1992 by William Sieghart with the aim of celebrating excellence in poetry and increasing its audience. The ...

for Best Collection and the

T S Eliot Prize The T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry is a prize that was, for many years, awarded by the Poetry Book Society (UK) to "the best collection of new verse in English first published in the UK or the Republic of Ireland" in any particular year. The Priz ...

for ''The Drowned Book'' (Picador, 2007). This was the first time a poet had been awarded the Forward and the Eliot prizes in the same year. In 2006, he was appointed Professor of Creative Writing at

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

, and was previously Professor of Poetry at Sheffield Hallam University. He is a Vice-President of the

Poetry Society The Poetry Society is a membership organisation, open to all, whose stated aim is "to promote the study, use and enjoyment of poetry". The society was founded in London in February 1909 as the Poetry Recital Society, becoming the Poetry Society ...

. He was co-founder of the literary magazine ''The Printer's Devil'' and contributes reviews to newspapers and magazines including ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' and ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication i ...

'' and is a regular broadcaster on radio. His writing for television includes "Cousin Coat", a poem-film in ''Wordworks'' (Tyne Tees Television, 1991); "Cantona", a poem-film in ''On the Line'' (BBC2, 1994); ''Strong Language'', a 45-minute poem-film (Channel 4, 1997) and ''The Poet Who Left the Page'', a profile of

Simon Armitage Simon Robert Armitage (born 26 May 1963) is an English poet, playwright, musician and novelist. He was appointed Poet Laureate on 10 May 2019. He is professor of poetry at the University of Leeds. He has published over 20 collections of poetr ...

(BBC4, 2002). Other significant work includes a radio adaptation for BBC Radio 4 of " We" by

Yevgeny Zamyatin Yevgeny Ivanovich Zamyatin ( rus, Евге́ний Ива́нович Замя́тин, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ zɐˈmʲætʲɪn; – 10 March 1937), sometimes anglicized as Eugene Zamyatin, was a Russian author of science fictio ...

Awards and honours

*1979 – Eric Gregory Award *1984 – Somerset Maugham Award – ''The Indoor Park'' *1988 – Cholmondeley Award *1992 Northern Arts Literary Fellowship *1993 – E. M. Forster Award *1995 – Forward Poetry Prize (Best Poetry Collection of the Year) – ''Ghost Train'' *2001 – Forward Poetry Prize (Best Poetry Collection of the Year) – ''Downriver'' *2001 – Northern Writer of the Year Award *2001 – T. S. Eliot Prize (shortlist) – ''Downriver'' *2006 – Forward Poetry Prize (Best Single Poem for ''Fantasia on a Theme of James Wright'') *2007 – Northern Rock Foundation Writer's Award *2007 – Forward Poetry Prize (Best Collection) – ''The Drowned Book'' *2007 – T. S. Eliot Prize – ''The Drowned Book'' *2007 –

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

fellowship *2012 –

Griffin Poetry Prize The Griffin Poetry Prize is Canada's most generous poetry award. It was founded in 2000 by businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin. Before 2022, the awards went to one Canadian and one international poet who writes in the English language. ...

International shortlist – ''November''

Bibliography

Poetry

;Collections * * 1987: ''The Frighteners'' (Bloodaxe) * 1989: ''Boundary Beach '' (Ulsterman Publications) * 1991: ''HMS Glasshouse'' (Oxford University Press) * 1993: ''A Rarity'' (Carnivorous Arpeggio) * 1995: ''Ghost Train'' (Oxford University Press) * 1995: ''Penguin Modern Poets 5'' (with

and

Tony Harrison Tony Harrison (born 30 April 1937) is an English poet, translator and playwright. He was born in Beeston, Leeds and he received his education in Classics from Leeds Grammar School and Leeds University. He is one of Britain's foremost verse w ...

) (Penguin) * 1997: ''The Ideology'' (Smith/Doorstep) * 2001: ''Downriver'' (Picador) * 2002: ''Cousin Coat: Selected Poems 1976–2001 '' (Picador) * 2002: ''Rivers'' (with John Kinsella and Peter Porter) (Fremantle Arts Centre Press, Australia) * 2006: ''Inferno: a verse version of

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

's Inferno'' (Picador) * 2007: ''

'' (Picador) * 2009: ''Night Train'' (with artist Birtley Aris) (Flambard Press) * 2011: ''November'' (Picador) * 2015: ''The Beautiful Librarians'' (Picador) * 2018: ''Europa'' (Picador) *2019: Contributor to ''A New Divan, A Lyrical Dialogue between East and West'',

Gingko Library Gingko is a UK-based charitable foundation created in 2014 to promote dialogue and understanding with the Middle East, West Asia and North Africa through conferences, publications, events and cultural programmes. It should not be confused with Ging ...

, *2020: ''It Says Here'' (Picador) *2022: ''Embark'' (Picador) ;Anthologies (edited) * 1998: ''The Firebox: Poetry in Britain and Ireland after 1945'' (editor) (Picador) * 2008: ''

Andrew Marvell Andrew Marvell (; 31 March 1621 – 16 August 1678) was an English metaphysical poet, satirist and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1659 and 1678. During the Commonwealth period he was a colleague and friend ...

: poems selected by Sean O'Brien'' (Poet to Poet series, Faber and Faber) ;List of poems

Plays

*2000: ''Laughter When We're Dead'' *2001: ''My Last Barmaid'' *2001: ''Downriver'', cowritten with

Keith Morris Keith Morris (born September 18, 1955) is an American singer and songwriter known for his role as frontman of the hardcore punk bands Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and Off!. Born and raised in Hermosa Beach, California, he formed Black Flag at the ...

*2002: ''The Birds: a new verse version of

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme In Ancient Greece, a deme or ( grc, δῆμος, plural: demoi, δημοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Athens and other city-states ...

' Birds'' (Methuen) *2003: ''Keepers of the Flame'' (Methuen) *2003: ''Live Theatre: Six Plays from the North East'' (with Cecil Taylor,

Tom Hadaway Tom Hadaway (18 March 1923 – 3 March 2005) was a writer for stage and television, born in North Shields in North East England. Early life Hadaway was born on Howdon Road, North Shields on 18 March 1923. After leaving school, aged 14, he work ...

Alan Plater Alan Frederick Plater (15 April 1935 – 25 June 2010) was an English playwright and screenwriter, who worked extensively in British television from the 1960s to the 2000s. Career Plater was born in Jarrow, County Durham, although his family ...

, Lee Hall,

Julia Darling Julia Rose Darling (21 August 1956 – 13 April 2005) was an English novelist, poet and dramatist. Early life and education Darling was born in 1956 in 8 College Street, Winchester—the house Jane Austen died in. Her parents were John Ramsay ...

) (Methuen)

Novels

* 2008: ''Afterlife'' (Picador)

Short fiction

;Collections * 2005: ''Ellipsis 1: Short Stories by Sean O'Brien, Jean Sprackland and Tim Cooke'' (Comma Press) * 2005: ''Phantoms at the Phil'' (with

Chaz Brenchley Chaz Brenchley (born 4 January 1959 in Oxford) is a British writer of novels and short stories, associated with the genres of horror, crime and fantasy. Some of his work has been published under the pseudonyms of Ben Macallan and Daniel Fox. Cha ...

and Gail-Nina Anderson) (Side Real/Northern Gothic) * 2006: ''Phantoms at the Phil- The Second Proceedings'' (with

and Gail-Nina Anderson) (Side Real/Northern Gothic) * 2007: ''Phantoms at the Phil- The Third Proceedings'' (with

and Gail-Nina Anderson) (Side Real/Northern Gothic) * 2008: ''The Silence Room'' (Comma Press)

Literary criticism

* 1998: ''The Deregulated Muse: Essays on Contemporary British and Irish Poetry'' (Bloodaxe)

Notes

Sources

*''The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry'' ed. Ian Hamilton (OUP, 1996) *''The Idea of North'' Peter Davidson (Reaktion Books, 2005)

External links

*
Profile at Poetry Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Sean 1952 births Living people Alumni of Selwyn College, Cambridge English literary critics English male non-fiction writers English male poets Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature The New Yorker people Writers from Kingston upon Hull T. S. Eliot Prize winners British republicans