The trustees of the Ireland Chair of Poetry are delighted to announce that Nicholas McLachlan is the recipient of the 2019 Ireland Chair of Poetry bursary. The poet was nominated by Ireland Professor of Poetry, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, selected as the recipient for the final year of her term, and the nomination was welcomed and confirmed by the trustees of the Board of the Ireland Chair of Poetry.
Commenting on her selection Professor Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin said, ‘Nicholas McLachlan’s work is sensitive and accomplished. His poems are subtle, frequently witty, and dealt with sometimes traumatic subjects deftly. They also showed a marked talent for dealing with the three dimensional world, whether the vocabulary of tools, old bangers of cars and their insides, or the shifting natural world of tide edge and wind-battered tree. A dodgy street in Dublin, a Wapping newsroom, a haunted Kerry lane are equally convincing.’
The bursary is awarded annually to a poet of promise and enables the recipient to reside for a period of four weeks at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Annaghmakerrig, Co. Monaghan.
Speaking in response to the news Nicholas said, ‘I am absolutely delighted and honored to be nominated by Professor Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin for the Ireland Chair of Poetry bursary. It is wonderful to be recognised and encouraged by a poet one truly admires. The Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig is a magical place and I look forward to spending time there making significant inroads into my next collection. My thanks to the Ireland Professor of Poetry, the Ireland Chair of Poetry Trust and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre.’
Nicholas McLachlan is from Dublin and now lives in Ventry, Co Kerry. His first collection of poetry The Rain Barrel was published by Salmon Poetry in 2015. He was awarded the Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh Fellowship the same year. His next collection is due from Salmon in 2022. He teaches poetry and fiction and works with individuals, university, school and community groups.