The Institute for the Study of Irish Culture presents Sinéad Morrissey, poet laureate of Belfast. Morrissey has published five collections of poetry with Carcanet Press: There Was Fire in Vancouver (1996); Between Here and There (2002); The State of the Prisons (2005); Through the Square Window (2009) and Parallax (2013).

Her awards include The Patrick Kavanagh Award, the Eithne and Rupert Strong Award, the Michael Hartnett Poetry Prize, a Lannan Literary Fellowship (U.S.A.) and in 2007 her poem “Through the Square Window” took first prize in the UK National Poetry Competition. Between Here and There, The State of the Prisons and Though the Square Window were all shortlisted for the T S Eliot Prize. Through the Square Window was also shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection and was the winner of the Irish Times/Poetry Now Award in 2009. Her most recent book, Parallax, won the TS Eliot Prize and was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection, 2013.

In 2013 Morrissey was appointed as the Inaugural Belfast Poet Laureate.

Reception & book-signing to follow.