Seán Hewitt

Seán Hewitt was born in Warrington, UK, to an Irish mother and English father.[2] He studied English at Girton College, University of Cambridge.[3][4]

Hewitt received his PhD, on the works of J. M. Synge, from the Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool.[5] As of 2020, he lives in Dublin, where he lectures in English Literature at Trinity College Dublin, and is Poetry Critic for The Irish Times.[6][7]

Hewitt was awarded an Eric Gregory Award in 2019, and won the world's biggest ecopoetry award, the Resurgence Prize, in 2017.[8][9] He also received a Northern Writers' Award in 2016.[10] His debut pamphlet, Lantern, was published by Offord Road Books in 2019, was Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice,[11] and was shortlisted for the Michael Marks Award.[12] His debut collection, Tongues of Fire, was published by Jonathan Cape in 2020.[13][14]

Tongues of Fire was released to critical acclaim.[15] It was shortlisted for The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year, 2020.[16] It was Poetry Book of the Month in The Observer,[17] and a Book of the Year in The Guardian,[18] The Irish Times,[19] The Spectator,[20] Attitude,[21] and the Irish Independent,[22] and was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation.[23] The Sunday Times wrote of Hewitt that "his poetry will stand the test of time".[24] Booker Prize shortlisted novelist Max Porter describes Hewitt as "an exquisitely calm and insightful lyric poet, reverential in nature and gorgeously wise in the field of human drama."[25] Tongues of Fire is a book of lyric poetry, and explores queer sexuality, grief, and the natural world.[26][27][28]

Hewitt's book-length study of the Irish playwright, poet and travel writer J. M. Synge, J.M. Synge: Nature, Politics, Modernism, is published by Oxford University Press.[29]

In 2020, Hewitt's memoir, All Down Darkness Wide, was signed with Jonathan Cape in the UK and with Penguin Press in the USA. It is due to be published in 2022.[30]

Hewitt was listed as one of The Sunday Times "30 under 30" artists in 2020.[31]

• Shortlisted for The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, for Tongues of Fire, 2020.[32]
• Poetry Book Society Recommendation, for Tongues of Fire, 2020.[23]
• Eric Gregory Award, Society of Authors, 2019.
• Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice, for Lantern, 2019.[11]
• Maurice J. Bric Medal of Excellence, Irish Research Council, 2019.[33]
• The Resurgence Prize, Poetry School, 2017.[34][35]
• Northern Writers' Award, New Writing North, 2016.

• All Down Darkness Wide (Jonathan Cape (UK) and Penguin Press (USA), 2022)
• J.M. Synge: Nature, Politics, Modernism (Oxford University Press, 2021)
• Tongues of Fire (Jonathan Cape, 2020)
• Lantern (Offord Road Books, 2019)