New PEN Heaney Prize launched to recognise outstanding poetry with a focus on social engagement
Today, Friday 12 April 2024, on the eve of the 85th anniversary of the poet’s birth, English PEN, together with Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann and the Estate of Seamus Heaney launch a new annual prize, the PEN Heaney Prize. The prize will recognise a single volume of poetry by one author, published in the UK or Ireland, of outstanding literary merit that engages with the impact of cultural or political events on human conditions or relationships. Complementing English PEN’s PEN Pinter Prize for outstanding writers of literary merit, and the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize for non-fiction, the prize is open to original English language collections and those translated into English.
The inaugural prize will be judged by poets Nick Laird, Paula Meehan and Shazea Quraishi. The three judges will be joined by Catherine Heaney, representing the Estate of Seamus Heaney, who will act as non-voting Chair of the judging panel.
Seamus Heaney is recognised as one of the most important poets of his generation, in Ireland and throughout the world. Through his essays, lectures, and addresses, he also became one of the most eloquent advocates for poetry and the role of the poet in public life. He understood the power of poetry to speak and respond to certain moments and experiences in the wider world, while always mindful that poetry must never lose “its fundamentally self-delighting inventiveness.”
Today, there has never been a greater need for art that addresses, interrogates, observes, and shines a light on the impact of individual cultural or political events on human conditions or relationships. The wider societal benefits of engaging with this type of writing have also never been felt more keenly. In honour of Heaney, the Estate, English PEN, and Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann wish to celebrate work that resonates with Heaney’s own values and interests, work that remains “true to the impact of external reality and … sensitive to the inner laws of the poet’s being”, to quote from his Nobel Lecture. Like Heaney, PEN recognises the need for writers, and all those invested in literature, to concern themselves with the protection of freedom of expression and to bear witness to the political and social landscape in which they live and write.
Submissions are now open for publishers from the UK and Ireland. They will close at 23:59 on Monday 3 June 2024. Poetry collections published between 1 January and 31 December 2023 and marketed to adult readers are eligible. The full criteria can be found via the link above.
A shortlist will be announced in October 2024, with the winning volume announced in November 2024. The winner will receive £5,000. If the winning book is translated from another language, £5,000 will also be awarded to the translator(s).
Open to writers of any nationality or geographical location, including those whose work has been translated into English, at any stage of their career, the prize recognises the diverse voices producing this kind of poetry.
Catherine Heaney, The Estate of Seamus Heaney: ‘The Estate of Seamus Heaney and the Heaney family are delighted to partner with English PEN and Irish PEN / PEN na hÉireann on the inauguration of the PEN Heaney Prize. My father had a long association with PEN and supported the essential work it does on behalf of writers around the world. Therefore, it feels fitting that he should be honoured and remembered through this exciting joint venture, which will reward a volume of poetry that reflects PEN’s and Seamus’s shared values. We are grateful to our partners for their commitment and vision for the prize, and look forward to it becoming an important part of Seamus’s legacy.’
Ruth Borthwick, Chair of English PEN, said: ‘The life and work of Seamus Heaney is a huge inspiration to us all, and we are deeply honoured to be a presenting partner of the PEN Heaney Prize. Our hope for the PEN Heaney Prize is that it becomes an enduring touchstone for both poets and their readers, who seek luminosity in a complex and troubling world.’
Catherine Dunne, Chair of Irish PEN/ PEN na hÉIREANN, said: ‘Irish PEN/PEN na hÉIREANN, an all Ireland organisation, is honoured to partner with the Estate of Seamus Heaney and English PEN in delivering a new annual prize in memory of the poet and Nobel Laureate, Seamus Heaney. This prize will celebrate poetry of outstanding literary merit that also engages with the wider world. Poetry that explores the impact of individual cultural or political events on the human condition, without ever losing ‘its fundamentally self-delighting inventiveness’. The PEN Heaney Prize’s inclusivity reflects both the poet’s own interest in translation, and PEN’s focus on the need to hear diverse voices in today’s world. It also pays tribute to Heaney’s call to writers to be ‘both socially responsibly and creatively free’.’
The inaugural PEN Heaney Prize is supported by Hawthornden Foundation.
The Judges
Nick Laird was born in County Tyrone in 1975. A poet, novelist, screenwriter, children’s book author and ex-lawyer, his awards include the Betty Trask Prize, the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award, a Guggenheim fellowship and a Forward Prize. He is the Seamus Heaney Professor of Poetry at Queens’ University, Belfast.
Paula Meehan was born in the north inner city of Dublin. She studied at Trinity College, Dublin, and at Eastern Washington University in the U.S. Her poetry has received both popular and critical acclaim. She has moderated workshops in the community, in the prisons, in recovery programmes and has worked extensively with emerging poets inside and outside the universities. Her work has been translated into many languages, most recently into Japanese and Dutch with volumes in preparation in Spanish, Polish & Greek. She has received the Butler Literary Award for Poetry presented by the Irish American Cultural Institute, the Marten Toonder Award for Literature, the Denis Devlin Award for Dharmakaya, published in 2000, the Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Award for Poetry, 2015. She was honoured with election to Aosdána, the Irish Academy for the Arts, in 1996. She was Ireland Professor of Poetry, 2013 – 2016, and her public lectures from these years, Imaginary Bonnets with Real Bees in Them, was published by UCD Press in 2016. Geomantic was published by Dedalus Press, Dublin, in 2016 and received a Cholmondelay Award.
As If By Magic, which selects poems from over thirty years of work, was published in October of 2020 by Dedalus Press, Dublin and in spring of 2021 by Wake Forest University Press, North Carolina. The Solace of Artemis was published in 2023 by Dedalus Press.
Shazea Quraishi is a Pakistani-born Canadian poet and translator based in London. Her poems have appeared in UK and US publications including The Guardian, The Financial Times, Poetry Review, Modern Poetry in Translation, and most recently Poetry: A Writer’s Guide and Anthology (Bloomsbury Academic, U.S. 2023). Books include The Glimmer (Bloodaxe Books, 2022), The Taxidermist (Verve Poetry Press, 2020), The Art of Scratching (Bloodaxe Books, 2015), and The Courtesans Reply (flipped eye publishing, 2012).
An alumna of the Complete Works, she is a writer in residence with Living Words, an arts charity that works with individuals impacted by a dementia or mental health concerns. She teaches with the Poetry School and runs Poetry Studio, a programme of writing workshops.
Shazea worked with English PEN as a writer on the outreach program from 2010–2015 in prisons and refugee organisations, and was a trustee from 2015–2023.