Seán Hewitt FRSL (born 1990) is a poet, lecturer and literary critic.^[1] In 2023, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.^[2]

Biography

Seán Hewitt was born in Warrington, UK, to an Irish mother and English father.^[3] He studied English at Girton College, Cambridge.^[4][5]

Hewitt received his PhD, on the works of J. M. Synge, from the Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool.^[6] He lives in Dublin, where he lectures at Trinity College Dublin.^[7]

Hewitt was awarded an Eric Gregory Award in 2019, and won the world's biggest ecopoetry award, the Resurgence Prize, in 2017.^[8][9] He also received a Northern Writers' Award in 2016.^[10] Hewitt was listed as one of The Sunday Times "30 under 30" artists in Ireland in 2020.^[11] His debut collection of poems, Tongues of Fire, won The Laurel Prize in 2021. He was awarded the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 2022.^[12]

Works

Hewitt's debut collection, Tongues of Fire, was published by Jonathan Cape in 2020.^[13][14]

Tongues of Fire was released to critical acclaim.^[15] It won The Laurel Prize in 2021,^[16] and was shortlisted for The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year, 2020, the John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize, 2021, and the Dalkey Literary Award (Emerging Writer), 2021.^[17][18][19] It was Poetry Book of the Month in The Observer,^[20] and a Book of the Year in The Guardian,^[21] The Irish Times,^[22] The Spectator,^[23] Attitude,^[24] and the Irish Independent,^[25] and was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation.^[26] The Sunday Times wrote of Hewitt that "his poetry will stand the test of time".^[27] Booker Prize shortlisted novelist Max Porter describes Hewitt as "an exquisitely calm and insightful lyric poet, reverential in nature and gorgeously wise in the field of human drama."^[28] Tongues of Fire is a book of lyric poetry, and explores queer sexuality, grief, and the natural world.^[29][30][31]

Hewitt's book-length study of the Irish playwright, poet and travel writer J. M. Synge, J.M. Synge: Nature, Politics, Modernism, is published by Oxford University Press.^[32]

Hewitt's memoir, All Down Darkness Wide, was published in 2022.^[33]

Awards

• Winner of The Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, 2022.
• Winner of The Laurel Prize, 2021.
• Shortlisted for John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize, for Tongues of Fire, 2021.
• Shortlisted for the Dalkey Literary Award (Emerging Writer), 2021.
• Shortlisted for The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, for Tongues of Fire, 2020.^[34]
• Poetry Book Society Recommendation, for Tongues of Fire, 2020.^[26]
• Eric Gregory Award, Society of Authors, 2019.
• Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice, for Lantern, 2019.^[35]
• Maurice J. Bric Medal of Excellence, Irish Research Council, 2019.^[36]
• The Resurgence Prize, Poetry School, 2017.^[37][38]
• Northern Writers' Award, New Writing North, 2016.

Bibliography

• Rapture's Road (Jonathan Cape, 2024)
• 300,000 Kisses: Tales of Queer Love from the Ancient World, with Luke Edward Hall (Penguin, 2023)
• All Down Darkness Wide (Jonathan Cape (UK) and Penguin Press (USA), 2022)
• Buile Suibhne / Seán Hewitt, wood engravings by Amy Jeffs (Rochdale, England: Fine Press Poetry, 2021)
• J.M. Synge: Nature, Politics, Modernism (Oxford University Press, 2021)
• Tongues of Fire (Jonathan Cape, 2020)
• Lantern (Offord Road Books, 2019)

References