GALWAY POET Rita Ann Higgins was presented with the the Living Poets Society Award 2021 at the recent Power of Words Festival in Abbeyleix, last weekend.
“To be honoured in this way is deeply humbling,” says Rita Ann. “It is a joyous occasion in these contrary and befuddling times. The award has lifted my spirits.”
Rita Ann has published 11 books of poetry; a memoir, Hurting God; and a book of essays and poems, Our Killer City. She has written several plays and two screenplays. Her latest collection is called Pathogens Love a Patsy, Pandemic and other poems. She garnered a more widespread audience through her pandemic poems which featured regularly on the Brendan O’ Connor show on RTE radio 1 from the start of the pandemic.
She was made an honorary fellow at Hong Kong Baptist University November 2006. She also participated in prison workshops in Ireland and the UK and did voluntary work at promoting positive mental health. She is a member of Aosdána.
