Rita Ann Higgins, described by Colette Sheridan as the people’s poet, has published eleven books of poetry. These include Tongulish, Ireland Is Changing Mother and Throw in the Vowels: New & Selected Poems, all from Bloodaxe.

She is also a playwright with a number of plays to her name, including The Plastic Bag, The Empty Frame (about the incarceration of Hanna Greally) and The Colossal Longing of Julie Connors.

The Galway-based writer’s many awards include a Peadar O’Donnell Award and several Arts Council bursaries. She is also a member of Aosdána.