Sweeney, Matthew

(1952- )

   Irish poet, born in Donegal, he studied at the Polytechnic of North London and the University of Freiburg, Switzerland. He has held residencies at the University of East Anglia and the South Bank Centre in London, and was poet in residence at the National Library for the Blind as part of the "Poetry Places" scheme run by the Poetry Society in London. He gives regular poetry readings, works in schools and on radio and judges poetry competitions. He won a Cholmondeley Award in 1987 and an Arts Council Writers' Award in 1999. He is a member of Aosdána and spends much of his time in Romania. Some of his recent publications: The Lame Waltzer, 1985. Blue Shoes, 1989. Cacti, 1992. The Flying Spring Onion, 1992 (for children). Fatso in the Red Suit, 1995 (for children). The Bridal Suite, 1997. A Smell of Fish, 2000. Up on the Roof: New and Selected Poems, 2001 (for children). Selected Poems, 2002. Sanctuary, 2004. Some of his poems: "Alone with the Dawn," "New Year Party," "The Bats," "The Statue," "Where Fishermen Can't Swim."

   Sources: Anthology of Magazine Verse and Yearbook of American Poetry. Alan F. Pater, ed. Monitor Book Company, 1980. Bitter Harvest: An Anthology of Contemporary Irish Verse. John Montague, ed. Scribner's, 1989. British Council Arts (http://www.contemporarywriters.com). Life and Works of Matthew Sweeney (http://www.writersartists.net/msweeney.htm). National Library for the Blind (http:// www.nlbuk.org/readon/poet/index.html). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Inherited Boundaries: Younger Poets of the Republic of Ireland. Sebastian Barry, ed. The Dolmen Press, 1986. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.