Judges of the 2007 STROKESTOWN INTERNATIONAL POETRY COMPETITIONS

Category 1: The Strokestown International Poetry Prize

Pat Boran is the author of poetry and short fiction for adults and children, as well as four non-fiction titles. 2005 saw the publication of his New and Selected Poems by Salt Publishing, UK, as well as the publication by New Island of an expanded and updated edition of his popular writers' handbook, The Portable Creative Writing Workshop. Programme Director of the annual Dublin Writers Festival, Boran is also editor of the Dedalus Press and presenter of the weekly half-hour poetry programme The Enchanted Way on RTÉ Radio 1.
 www.patboran.com contains extracts from Pat Boran's published work, as well as a small selection of poems in both MP3 and RealAudio formats. In addition there is a large selection of his newspaper reviews of the work of other poets and writers. 

Moya Cannon was born in Dunfanaghy, Co. Donegal in 1956 and now lives in Galway. She has published two collections of poems, Oar, (Salmon Press, Galway,1990; Poolbeg Press, Dublin, 1994; Gallery Press, Meath, 2000) and The Parchment Boat (Gallery Press, 1997). A third collection, Carrying the Songs, will be published by Carcanet Press in 2007.A recipient of the Brendan Behan Award and of the Lawrence O Shaughnessy Award, she was elected to Aosdána in 2004.

Michael Schmidt is founder and editorial director of Carcanet Press, and has also been editor of Poetry Nation Review for thirty three years. He is Professor of Poetry at the University of Glasgow.His first collection, Black Buildings, was published in 1969; more recently he has published a Selected Poems, 1972-1997 (1997). Other books include Lives of the Poets (1998) and The First Poets: Lives of the Ancient Greek Poets, was published in 2004, and a new collection of poems,The Resurrection of the Body,will be published this year.

 
Category 2: The Strokestown Irish/Gaelic/ Poetry Prize

Meg Bateman was born in Edinburgh in 1959. She studied Celtic at Aberdeen University and completed a PhD in Classical Gaelic religious poetry. She went on to teach in the Celtic Department at Aberdeen, and now lectures at Sabhal Mór Ostaig on Skye. She has published three collections: Òrain Ghaoil/Amhráin Ghrá, Coiscéim 1989, Aotromachd agus Dàin Eile/Lightness and Other Poems, Polygon 1997 and Soirbheas/Fair Wind, Birlinn 2006. She appears in numerous anthologies and has also translated Gaelic poetry into English in An Anthology of Scottish Women Poets (1991) and The Harp’s Cry (1993).

Paddy Bushe was born in Dublin in 1948. A poet who writes in both English and Irish, he has published many poetry collections, among them Poems With Amergin (Beaver Row Press, 1989), Teanga (Coiscéim, 1990), Counsellor (Sceilg Press, 1991), Digging Towards The Light (Dedalus Press, 1994), In Ainneoin na gCloch (Coiscéim, 2001), Hopkins on Skellig Michael (Dedalus Press, 2001) and, most recently, The Nitpicking of Cranes (Dedalus, 2004) and Gile na Gile (2005). He was the Director of the Strokestown Festival from 2004-2006. He lives in Kerry.

 
Category 3: The Strokestown Prize for humorous political or topical satire, or invective, in verse.

John Waters was born in Castlerea, Co Roscommon. A writer, playwright and journalist, his books include Jiving at the Crossroads (Blackstaff, 1991), Race of Angels: The Genesis of U2 (Trafalgar Square, 1996), An Intelligent Persons' Guide to Modern Ireland, (Duckworth, 200), The Politburo Has Decided You Are Unwell, (Liffey Press, 2004). His plays include Easter Dues and Long Black Coat. He lives in Dublin.

 Index