RUTH PICKS UP €1,000 AWARD

THE CURRACLOE-BASED poet Ruth Timmins was presented with the prestigious Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award at an Institute of Education memorial held in Dublin to mark the 50th anniversary of the poet’s death.

Ruth (43) won the €1,000 award for an unpublished collection of poems entitled ‘The Hour Angles’. It’s the first time that the prize has been sponsored by the Institute of Education.

Ruth was born in Dublin in 1974 and educated in Wexford after her family moved to the county. She has been writing poetry since she was a young girl and now writes full-time at her cottage in Curracloe, where she lives with her eight-year old son.

She had the honour of reciting from her collection at the Patrick Kavanagh Weekend in October when the award was announced.

The keynote speaker at the Institute of Education event in Dublin was the acclaimed poet Paul Durcan who was a fitting choice for the memorial, having been appointed as Kavanagh’s successor by Kavanagh himself when the wrote the following lines during his last days in the summer of 1967: ‘On Paul Durcan my hopes are pinned, But wait till he gets his second wind’.

‘To be mentioned in the same breath as Patrick Kavanagh and indeed, Paul Durcan, two brilliant poetic influences – is a great honour’, said Ruth.

‘My heartfelt thanks to the Patrick Kavanagh Centre and the Institute of Education for sponsoring such a wonderful event’.

The poetry award was presented to Ruth by the Institute in association with the Patrick Kavanagh Society, Inishkeen.

The prize which seeks to recognise the most inspiring talent in Irish poetry was also won by Durcan in 1974.