Francis Arthur Ormsby (born Irvinestown, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland in 1947) is a Northern Irish poet.^[1]

He was educated at St Michael's College, Enniskillen and Queen's University Belfast. He was editor of The Honest Ulsterman from 1969 to 1989, and has also edited the Poetry Ireland Review. Since 1976 he has been Head of English at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. The man has been an inspiration for everyone who has been lucky enough to have him as a teacher or a friend. In 2010, after 34 years in the post, he announced his decision to retire from the role of 'Head of English' at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution.

In 1992 he received the Cultural Traditions Award, given in memory of John Hewitt, and in 2002 the Lawrence O'Shaughnessy Award for Poetry from the University of St. Thomas at St Paul, Minnesota.

Recently he has returned to writing with a new collection Fireflies, published by Carcanet in 2009. The work features poems set in rural Fermanagh, Belfast and America.

Publications[link]

• Ripe for Company, Belfast: Ulsterman Publications, 1971.
• A Store of Candles, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977.
• A Northern Spring, London: Secker & Warburg, 1986.
• The Ghost Train, Oldcastle, Co. Meath: The Gallery Press, 1995.
• Fireflies, Manchester: Carcanet / Oxford Poets, 2009.

Edited volumes[link]

• Poets from the North of Ireland, Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 1979; revised edition, 1990.
• Northern Windows: An Anthology of Ulster Autobiography, Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 1987.
• The Long Embrace: Twentieth Century Irish Love Poems, London: Faber & Faber, 1987.
• Thine in Storm and Calm: An Amanda McKittrick Ros Reader, Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 1988.
• The Collected Poems of John Hewitt, Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 1991.
• A Rage for Order: Poetry of the Northern Ireland Troubles, Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 1992.
• The Hip Flask: Short Poems from Ireland, Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 2001.
• The Blackbird's Nest: An Anthology of Poetry from Queen's University Belfast, Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 2006.
• The Selected Poems of John Hewitt (co-edited with Michael Longley), Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 2007.

References[link]

See also[link]

Poetry portal

• List of Northern Irish writers

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Sinéad Morrissey (born on 24 April ^[1] 1972 in Portadown, County Armagh) is a poet from Northern Ireland.^[2]

Life[link]

Raised in Belfast, she was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where she took BA and PhD degrees, and won the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award in 1990. She has published four collections of poetry: There Was Fire in Vancouver (1996), Between Here and There (2001), The State of the Prisons (2005), and Through the Square Window (2009), the second, third and fourth of which were shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize. After periods living in Japan and New Zealand she now lives in Belfast, where she has been writer-in-residence at Queen's University, Belfast and currently lectures.

Morrissey has a distinctive enrapt style of delivery. She learns her poems by heart and presents them with a crystal sharp vocal intensity that has the power to astonish an audience.^{[citation needed]}

Her collection, The State of the Prisons, was shortlisted for the Poetry Now Award in 2006. In November 2007, she received a Lannan Foundation Fellowship for "distinctive literary merit and for demonstrating potential for continued outstanding work".^[2] Her poem "Through the Square Window" won first prize in the 2007 British National Poetry Competition.^[4] Her collection, Through the Square Window, won the Poetry Now Award for 2010.^[5]

Works[link]

• There Was a Fire in Vancouver (Carcanet Press, 1996)
• Between Here and There (Carcanet Press, 2001)
• The State of Prisons (Carcanet Press, 2005)
• Through a Square Window (Carcanet Press, 2009)

See also[link]

Poetry portal

• List of Northern Irish writers

References[link]

External links[link]

• Meade, Declan (Winter 2002-2003). "Sinéad Morrissey in interview with Declan Meade". The Stinging Fly 1 (14). http://stingingfly.org/sample/sinéad-morrissey-interview. Retrieved 2008-08-17. 
• McConnell, Gail. "Poetry International Web - Sinead Morrissey". Poetry International Web Foundation. http://ireland.poetryinternationalweb.org/piw_cms/cms/cms_module/index.php?obj_id=7518&x=1. Retrieved 2008-08-05. 
• Dr Sinead Morrissey' profile at The Queen's University, Belfast
• Profile on ContemporaryWriters.com

Emma Must (born 1966) is an English environmental activist, teacher, and poet^[1] who previously worked as a librarian. She was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 1995^[2] for her efforts on land protection, particularly her influence on British road building policies. She brought attention to Twyford Down.

References[link]

1. ^ Poetry News, The Poetry Society, Summer 2005 (Retrieved on March 4, 2011)
2. ^ Goldman Environmental Prize: Emma Must (Retrieved on November 28, 2007)

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This biographical article about a United Kingdom activist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Colin Bateman
Born	June 1962 (1962-06) Newtownards, Northern Ireland
Pen name	Bateman
Occupation	Novelist
Language	English
Nationality	British
Education	Journalism
Alma mater	Oxford University[1]
Genres	Crime, Dark comedy, Thriller
Notable work(s)	Dan Starkey, Murphy's Law & Mystery Man novels
Notable award(s)	Betty Trask Award (1994)[2] Crimefest Last Laugh (2009)[3]
Spouse(s)	Andrea Bateman
Influences Raymond Chandler,[4] Robert B. Parker,[5]
Influenced Declan Burke[6]
www.colinbateman.com

Colin Bateman (known mononymously as Bateman) is a novelist, screenwriter and former journalist from Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland.

Biography[link]

Born in 1962, Bateman attended Bangor Grammar School leaving at 16 to join the County Down Spectator as a "cub" reporter, then columnist and deputy editor.^[7] A collection of his columns was published as Bar Stool Boy in 1989.

Bateman has been producing novels since his debut, Divorcing Jack, in 1994.^[7] Divorcing Jack won a Betty Trask Award in the same year and was adapted into a 1998 film starring David Thewlis.^[8][9] Several of Bateman's novels featured the semi-autobiographical Belfast journalist, Dan Starkey.^[9]

His book Murphy's Law was adapted from the BBC television series Murphy's Law (2001–2007), featuring James Nesbitt. Bateman explains on his website that "Murphy`s Law was written specifically for James Nesbitt, a local actor who became a big TV star through Cold Feet. The ninety minute pilot for Murphy's Law on BBC 1 was seen by more than seven million people, and led to three TV series, on which I was the chief writer."^[7]

Has just completed the 8 part series "SCUP", Which he wrote in English but has been translated into Irish. It is in production by Sterling Films & BBC Northern Ireland.^[10]

His children's book Titanic 2020 has been shortlisted for the 2008 Salford Children's Book Award.^[11][12]

Much of his work is produced under the name "Bateman" (rather than his full name); his 2007 novel I Predict a Riot bears (among others) the dedication: "For my Christian name, gone but not forgotten".^[13]

Novels[link]

Films[link]

• Divorcing Jack (1998)
• Crossmaheart (1998)
• Wild About Harry (2000)
• Turbulent Priests (Unproduced - Bateman having written the screenplay) (2000)
• Watermelon (2003)

See also[link]

• List of Northern Irish writers

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Colin Bateman at the Internet Movie Database