“She has shaped a body of work remarkable for its lyric beauty and its acute and attentive gaze upon the world around us,” said President Michael D. Higgins of Groarke.
Vona Groarke has been appointed as the tenth Ireland Professor of Poetry.
At an event at Áras an Uachtaráin today, President Michael D. Higgins praised Groarke as “one of the most compelling poetic voices of her generation.”
“Groarke joins a distinguished line of poets who have held this most prestigious of posts, each making their own profound contribution to the role and, in so doing, enriching the cultural and imaginative life of our nation,” President Higgins said.
“In Vona’s poems, with their elegance and clarity, we are witness to a rigour of form, precision and resonance of language, and complexity of feeling. She will, I know, bring to the Professorship of Poetry, her extraordinary artistry, along with her intellectual curiosity and profound commitment to the craft of poetry.”
Groarke has published 15 books, including nine collections of poetry. Her Selected Poems collection won the Pigott Prize for Best Irish Poetry Collection.
Groarke is also known for translating the eighteenth-century Irish poem ‘Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire’ (English: Lament for Art O’Leary) and ninth-century Irish poem ‘Caoineadh an Chailleach Bhéarra’ (English: The Lament of the Hag of Beare, also known as ‘Woman of Winter’).
“Vona’s work as a translator has also been of immense value, renewing the voices of earlier times for a new generation of readers,” said President Higgins, adding that her translations “have carried into our own moment the profound sorrow and wisdom of the past, ensuring that our great poetic inheritance continues to live and speak.”
Groarke has been a member of Aosdána since 2010, and has served as Senior Lecturer in Poetry at the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester, Poet in Residence with the Yeats Society in Sligo and Writer in Residence at St John’s College, Cambridge.
“In all of these roles she has embodied that essential generosity of the poet: a willingness not only to give her own voice, but to foster and encourage the voices of others,” President Higgins said.
In her new role, Groarke will spend one year teaching at each of the three administering universities: Queen’s University Belfast, Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin. The Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon is also a supporter of the Ireland Professor of Poetry.
She will reside for around eight weeks at each, where she will teach a series of workshops and discussions, perform outreach work and deliver a formal presentation.
Groarke will take over from previous holder Paul Muldoon. Her term will run from this September through November 2028.