The Trustees of the Ireland Chair of Poetry are delighted to announce James Conor Patterson as the recipient of the 2025 Ireland Chair of Poetry Bursary. James was nominated by the Ireland Professor of Poetry, Paul Muldoon, and the Trustees of the Ireland Chair of Poetry Trust confirmed the nomination.
Commenting on their selection, the Trustees said:
“The Trust is pleased to be able to honor James Conor Patterson, a poet who has already managed to combine necessary rootedness and necessary resilience — “the scents of bamboo oak & whin” — that will surely stand him in good stead. His first collection, Bandit Country, is also notable for its capacity not only to find new noises in the sonnet, the sestina, and the terza rima beloved of Dante and Douglas Dunn but to irrevocably connect Newry with the New York School.”
The Ireland Chair of Poetry Bursary is awarded annually to a poet of promise. It enables the recipient to reside for four weeks at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Annaghmakerrig, Co. Monaghan.
Speaking in response to the news James had this to say:
“When I received news that I’d been awarded the Ireland Chair of Poetry ‘Poet of Promise’ bursary, my jaw hit the floor. I am humbled to receive validation such as this from a poet like Paul Muldoon—someone whom I’ve long admired as a formative influence on my work and, in my opinion, the best living poet on the island—as well as all the Trustees involved in making the decision. Thank you so much! I promise to make good use of my time at the beautiful Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Annaghmakerrig, Co. Monaghan.”
James Conor Patterson is a poet from the North of Ireland. His debut collection Bandit Country (Picador), received an Eric Gregory Award in 2019 and was nominated for the TS Eliot Prize, the John Pollard International Poetry Prize and the Michael Murphy Memorial Prize in 2023.
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