Today President Michael D. Higgins announced that Frank Ormsby will be the eighth Irish Professor of Poetry. The previous holder of the position belonged to Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, who finishes her term at the end of October. The announcement was made in Queens University Belfast. The Ireland Chair of Poetry was set up in 1998 following the award of the Nobel Prize in Literature to the legendary Seamus Heaney.

Speaking on the announcement President Michael D. Higgins said, “I congratulate Professor Ormsby on being chosen for this well-deserved honour, and wish him well in his new role, a role I know he will assume with intelligence, sensitivity and enthusiasm. I am confident that his unmatched talent will cast its own dynamic and distinctive light across his three-year tenure as Ireland’s Professor of Poetry.”

Frank Ormsby said of his appointment ‘the professorship of Irish poetry is unique. It has done more than any other initiative to raise the profile of poetry in Ireland in the last 20 years, both as a recognition for established poets and a golden opportunity for younger emerging poets. The collaboration of three universities and both arts councils is a bold venture and I am honoured and thrilled to be part of it.’

Congratulations Professor Ormsby!