Summer School 2021 Workshops

Mary O'Donnell lives near Straffan, County Kildare and worked intermittently in journalism, especially theatre criticism, and her essays on contemporary literary are widely published. She also presented and scripted three series of poetry programmes for RTE Radio, including a successful series on poetry in translation during 2005 and 2006 called 'Crossing the Lines'. She teaches Creative Writing, part time, at NUI Maynooth and in 2011 she received that university’s President's Alumni Award She has also worked on the faculty of Carlow University Pittsburgh's MFA programme, as well as on the University of Iowa's summer writing programme at Trinity College Dublin. In December 2001 she was elected to the membership of Aosdana. She is also a member of the Irish Writers' Union and served for three years as an external representative for arts and culture on the Governing Authority of the National University of Ireland, Maynooth.

Ciaran Berry (Ireland/USA) read at the 2104 John Hewitt International Summer School, alongside Peter Fallon.  Ciaran was born in Dublin and grew up in Galway and Donegal. He obtained a BA from the University Ulster before moving to America, where he gained an MFA from New York University and was awarded a New York Times Fellowship. He […]

Eoghan was born in Derry and studied English and Philosophy at University College, Dublin before receiving both an MA and a PhD from the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry at Queen’s University, Belfast. He taught Creative Writing at Queen’s University Belfast, the Open University, and for the SUISS program at Edinburgh University, before being appointed Lecturer in Creative Writing at Lancaster University.

Katie Donovan (Ireland) read for the 2017 John Hewitt International Summer School, alongside Denise Riley.   Katie attended Trinity College Dublin and the University of California at Berkeley. In Dublin she worked for “The Irish Times” for 13 years as a journalist in the Features Dept. She was Writer-in-Residence for Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown 2006-8 and was […]

Rita Ann Higgins (Ireland) read at the 2016 John Hewitt International Summer School, alongside Grace Wells.  Rita Ann Higgins was born in Galway. Her first five collections were published by Salmon Press: Goddess on the Mervue Bus (1986), Witch in the Bushes (1988), Goddess and Witch (1990), Philomena's Revenge (1992), and Higher Purchase (1996). Bloodaxe […]

Tamar Yoseloff reads poetry for The John Hewitt Society. Tamar was born in the US and attended Sarah Lawrence College. She moved to the UK in 1987 and received an MPhil in Writing from the University of Glamorgan in 2003 and a PhD in Creative Writing from Aberystwyth University in 2010.