Many congratulations to Sinéad Morrissey, who has been announced as the recipient of the 2024 Seamus Heaney Award, Japan!

Named in honour of Ireland’s Nobel laureate poet, Seamus Heaney, this prize is awarded by the Japan branch of the International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures (IASIL) in collaboration with the Embassy of Ireland, Tokyo, to recognize outstanding contributions to literary relations between Ireland and Japan.

Sinéad Morrissey's career has garnered many accolades, including the T.S. Eliot Prize. Also with her former tenure as Professor in Creative Writing at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University she has close links to the late Heaney himself and is considered among the foremost writers in contemporary English-language poetry. Having resided in Japan and written eloquently about her experiences, Morrissey's connection to Japan is profound.

The Seamus Heaney Award, was established by the Japan branch of the International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures (IASIL) in 2019, under the auspices of the Embassy of Ireland in Japan and is administered biennially. It aims to recognize outstanding literary achievements and foster cultural exchange between Ireland and Japan. Previous recipients include the eminent Japanese poet, Mutsuo Takahashi.

The award ceremony is scheduled for 2025. Find out more here.

Sinéad Morrissey was born in Northern Ireland in 1972 and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. Her awards include a Lannan Literary Fellowship (2007), First Prize in the UK National Poetry Competition (2007), the Irish Times Poetry Now Award (2009, 2013) and the T.S. Eliot Prize (2013). In 2016 she received the E.M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. On Balance was awarded the Forward Prize in 2017. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2019. She has served as Belfast Poet Laureate (2013-14) and is currently Professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University.

Sinéad Morrissey is a frequent contributor to PN Review. Her Selected Poems, Found Architecture, came out in 2020.