Poet and critic Siobhán Campbell was born in Dublin. She earned her MA from University College Dublin and her PhD from Lancaster University before pursuing post-graduate study at New York University and the New School in New York City.
Campbell is the author of six poetry books and pamphlets: Heat Signature (Seren Books, 2017), winner of the Michael Marks Award; Cross-Talk (Seren, 2009); Darwin Among the Machines (Rack Press, 2009); That Water Speaks in Tongues (Templar Poetry, 2008), winner of the Templar Pamphlets and Collection Award; The Cold That Burns (Blackstaff Press, 2000); and The Permanent Wave (Blackstaff, 1996). She was co-editor of 2016’s essay collection Eavan Boland: Inside History. Her work has been collected in anthologies including Identity Parade: New British and Irish Poets (Bloodaxe), Women’s Work: Modern Women Poets writing in English (Seren), The Field Day Anthology of Irish Literature (NYU Press), and Open-Eyed, Full Throated: An Anthology of American/Irish Poets (Syracuse University Press).
Campbell’s honors include the Oxford Brookes International Poetry Prize, an Arts Council award, and awards in the National Poetry Competition and the Troubadour International Competition. Her poem “Longboat at Portaferry” was chosen as Listowel Writers' Week Poem of the Year at the 2021 An Post Irish Book Awards. Her poetry has been published widely in US, UK, and Irish literary journals such as Poetry, Poetry Ireland, Magma Poetry, Agenda, Crab Orchard Review, and The Hopkins Review, as well as periodicals including The Guardian and The Irish Times.
In Campbell’s academic, poetic, and social justice undertakings, her interests align around questions of violence and conflict and their societal impact. The founder of the Military Writing Network, Campbell has done creative writing work with veteran soldiers of the conflict in Northern Ireland through Combat Stress UK and SSAFA. She edited Courage & Strength: Stories and Poems by Combat Veterans (Kingston University Press) as part of an multi-faceted ongoing project to archive post-combat writing.
Campbell has lived in Dublin, San Francisco, London, and New York City. She previously taught at Kingston University London, where she was an associate professor in English literature and creative writing as well as course director for MA and MFA creative writing. She is currently a senior lecturer of creative writing at the Open University.
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More Siobhán Campbell
Text: Read Campbell's poem "Quickthorn" in Poetry
Text/Audio: Read and listen to Campbell's poem "Contagion" at Zócalo Public Square
Text: Read Campbell's poem "Origin of the Mimeo" in The Guardian
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Photo by Matthew Thompson.