[ profile ]
[ career ]
[ interviews ]
[ reviews ]
[ quotes ]
[ links ]

you are here > rita ann higgins.com
 
  LATEST NEWS

Rita Ann Higgins's poem 'Men With Tired Hair'

Rita Ann Higgins's poem 'Men With Tired Hair' was unveiled by Professor Adrian Frazier at Richardson's Bar, No. 1 Eyre Square, Galway as part of the Cuirt International Festival of Literature on April 8th, 2014. Arts Officer James Harold spoke warmly of how wonderful it is to have Rita Ann's poetry immortalised in stone in Galway.


Dublin and Galway Launches for Rita Ann Higgins


[ view cover ]

Ireland Is Changing Mother, the latest collection from prominent Irish poet Rita Ann Higgins, will be launched in her home city of Galway on 16 September. The special event, introduced by renowned comedian Tommy Tiernan, will take place at the Galway Arts Centre. This will be
followed by a Dublin launch on 20th September at the Dublin Writers' Centre.

Rita Ann Higgins' new collection chronicles the lives of the Irish dispossessed, before as well as since the demise of the Celtic tiger, with her provocative mix of humour and telling social comment. From the expenses scandal to the property collapse, these hard-hitting poems don't shy away from difficult truths, but take them on in a 'poetry in which anger is transformed into irony' (Fiona Sampson).


Hurting God


[ view cover ]

God, púcas, jiving factory girls, a crocodile-wielding father, long-lost lives and equally long-lost multinationals all form part of the brilliant world of Rita Ann Higgins's collection of essays and poems, Hurting God - Part Essay Part Rhyme. As well as highlighting Rita Ann's unique voice, this book gives a special insight into how closely prose and poetry can work together to bring a perspective that enables deep understanding.

For over two decades Rita Ann Higgins has been a poetic voice for the voiceless. This is as true in her plays as in her poetry.  Now, in these essays which form a poetic memoir, she shows yet again that she is one of the best contemporary Irish writers.

Book Reviews

Book Review and Interview

News Stories

Radio

Interview on National Broadcaster

Hotpress


OLDER NEWS


[ view cover ]

New from Rita Ann Higgins

Throw in the Vowels

Out now from Bloodaxe

Throw in the Vowels is a new retrospective from Rita Ann Higgins: provocative and heart-warming poems of high jinx, jittery grief and telling social comment by a gutsy, anarchic chronicler of the Irish dispossessed.

‘A brilliantly spiky, surreal blend of humour and social issues. Her poems are a witty mix of the erotic and the upfront political from a female perspective, with wonderful rhythms that effortlessly incorporate direct speech’ – Ruth Padel, Independent on Sunday

‘A quite untameable poet. Higgins roams the provincial towns and countryside of Ireland fomenting rebellion and writing with unstaunchable energy of everything warm and unrespectable in Irish life. Her voice is like nobody else’s, simple but not naive, raucous but sympathetic’ – Peter Porter, PBS Bulletin

‘Higgins’s voices are so distinctive and real that a whole world of semi-rural Irish poverty rises around the reader with the jolting acuity of an excellent documentary…an hilarious, absorbing and thoroughly disturbing experience’ – Kate Clanchy, Independent

‘Rita Ann Higgins means a unique line in human warmth; and a unique colour of humour and a unique clarity’ – Paul Durcan


An Awful Racket


[ view cover ]

An Awful Racket

Out now from Bloodaxe

REVIEWS
Bloodaxe Website
The Irish Times
Galway Advertiser #1
Galway Advertiser #2
City Tribune
 

An Awful Racket is the latest collection from Rita Ann Higgins: provocative and heartwarming poems of high jinx, jittery grief and telling social comment by a gutsy, anarchic chronicler of the Irish dispossessed.

'A brilliantly spiky, surreal blend of humour and social issues. Her poems are a witty mix of the erotic and the upfront political from a female perspective, with wonderful rhythms that effortlessly incorporate direct speech' - RUTH PADEL, Independent on Sunday

'A quite untameable poet. Higgins roams the provincial towns and countryside of Ireland fomenting rebellion and writing with unstaunchable energy of everything warm and unrespectable in Irish life. Her voice is like nobody else's, simple but not naive,
raucous but sympathetic' - PETER PORTER, PBS Bulletin

'Higgins's voices are so distinctive and real that a whole world
of semi-rural Irish poverty rises around the reader with the jolting acuity of an excellent documentary...an hilarious, absorbing and thoroughly disturbing experience' - KATE CLANCHY, Independent

'Rita Ann Higgins means a unique line in human warmth; and a unique colour of humour and a unique clarity' - PAUL DURCAN

RITA ANN HIGGINS was born in 1955 in Galway, where she still lives. One of 13 children, she left school at 14, and was in her late 20s when she started writing poetry. She has since published seven books of poetry, including Sunny Side Plucked: New & Selected Poems (Poetry Book Society Recommendation) in 1996 from Bloodaxe.

 
There are not many books of poems of which I can say that I can remember the day, the month, the year when I read them. Rita Ann Higgins's Goddess on the Mervue Bus was such a book. It was a cold dark winter's day when I read it and it lit a fire in my heart. To me Rita Ann Higgins means a unique line in human warmth; and a unique colour of humour and a unique clarity'
PAUL DURCAN

My Wikipedia Page
View my Wikipedia Page

© Rita Ann Higgins

rahiggins@gmail.com

Best viewed 1024x768