Anne Casey

Poet

Sydney
Australia
AU
Twitter/X: 

Author's Bio

Originally from the west of Ireland and living in Sydney, Australia for over 26 years, Anne Casey is an award-winning poet/writer and author of four critically acclaimed poetry collections— 'Portrait of a Woman Walking Home' (Recent Work Press 2021), 'the light we cannot see' (Salmon Poetry 2021), 'out of emptied cups' (Salmon Poetry 2019) and 'where the lost thing go' (Salmon Poetry 2017). Her second poetry collection was selected for Best Dressed in 2020 by Sundress Academy for the Arts in the USA – curators of the prestigious Best of the Net awards. This book was also selected for Books of the Year 2019 by The Lonely Crowd magazine in the UK.

Anne has worked for 30 years as a journalist, magazine editor, media communications director and a legal author – she has researched and written several significant legal publications (300-600 pages each), including one market leader. She has held senior positions in government and the private sector – including running Enterprise Ireland-Australia/New Zealand (the Irish government's overseas trade agency), for whom she hosted Presidential and Ministerial delegations to Australia; Communications Director for PricewaterhouseCoopers; and Product Development Manager for CCH international legal publishers. Senior Poetry Editor of Other Terrain and Backstory literary journals (Swinburne University, Melbourne) from 2017 to 2020, she has served on numerous literary advisory boards and as Vice President on the board of Voices for Women, an arts performance initiative. She is a regular guest editor for international literary journals, and a founding member of Irish-Australian women's arts ensemble, The Prankqueans, which has twice been commended in New South Wales Parliament for its cultural contribution in Australia (in 2020 and 2021).

Anne's essays, articles and poetry are widely published internationally and rank in leading national daily newspaper, The Irish Times' Most-Read. She has won/shortlisted for awards in Ireland, Northern Ireland, the USA, the UK, Canada, Hong Kong and Australia – including the American Writers Review Contest, ACU Prize for Poetry, Henry Lawson Poetry Competition, Tom Collins Poetry Prize (Fellowship of Australian Writers WA), Women’s National Book Association of USA Poetry Competition, Atlanta Review International Poetry Prize, 25th Annual Melbourne Poets Union International Poetry Competition, Hennessy New Irish Writing, Cúirt International Poetry Prize, Overton Poetry Prize, Bedford International Writing Competition and Fellowship of Australian Writers Queensland Literary Competition. She is the recipient of the 2021 iWoman Global Award for Literature and has been nominated for The Pushcart Prize.

Her poems feature internationally in newspapers, magazines, journals, anthologies, podcasts, music albums, stage shows and art exhibitions –The Irish Poetry Reading Archive (James Joyce Library, University College Dublin), The Irish Times, The Canberra Times, Australian Poetry Anthology,American Writers Review, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Atlanta Review, Tahoma Literary Review, Griffith Review, Quiddity, Entropy, The Murmur House, Barzakh (State University of New York), Connecticut River Review, The Stony Thursday Book, Westerly Magazine and Cordite Poetry Review among many others. Anne is included in the following archives:

• Irish Poetry Reading Archive at James Joyce Library, University College Dublin
• Poets & Writers Directory
• Contemporary Irish Women Poets
• An Index of Women Poets
• AustLit at the University of Queensland
• Society of Women Writers of New South Wales.

A frequent headliner at literary events, conferences and universities, Anne has given reading tours in Australia, Ireland and the USA. She has featured at fixtures including the Consulate General of Ireland (Sydney); State Library of New South Wales; Ireland's largest and longest running traditional music summer school and festival, Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy; one of Europe's oldest and most respected literary festivals, Cúirt International Festival of Literature (Galway, Ireland); AWP, the largest bookfair and conference in North America; Poetry Ireland (Dublin, Ireland); the University of Missouri-St Louis; the University of Newcastle (Australia); Swinburne University (Melbourne); the University of Canberra; Edith Cowan Writers' Centre (Perth); the University of Wah (Pakistan); Australian Women's History Network; Casula Powerhouse; and Don Bank Museum, Sydney.

Anne has written lyrics for over 30 songs, which are played in more than 11 countries on four continents (including in countries such as the USA, the UK, Germany, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Africa), and on more than 20 radio stations. She has creative collaborations with artists and musicians in Australia, the US and Ireland – amongst others, her poems feature on ‘Nothing in Common But US’ music album (EMI/Universal Music 2020) by chart-topping Australian hip hop artist, Tuka, and on ‘The Lost Codex of Avalon’ album by internationally renowned chamber musician/composer, David Yardley featuring the Sydney Chamber Choir. She also has ongoing collaborations with visual artist, Jane Theau; stage and film performance company, Voices of Women; music groups, War Poets (USA) and Ambientronic (Australia); chamber music composer, John Lewis (Australia); singer-songwriter, Claire Watts (Ireland); and actor/performance artist, Davog Rynne (France).

Anne holds an honours Law Degree from University College Dublin and qualifications in Media Communications from Dublin Institute of Technology (Technological University Dublin), where she was awarded First Place in her graduating year. She is the recipient of an Australian Government Research Training Scholarship for her PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Technology Sydney.

Website: anne-casey.com Social media: @1annecasey

Publications & Prizes

Books:
out of emptied cups (Salmon Poetry (Ireland), 2019)
,
where the lost things go (Salmon Poetry (Ireland), 2017)
Prizes won: 

2021

  • Awarded 1st Prize in the American Writers Review Contest 2021.
  • Awarded 2nd Prize in the Crosswinds Poetry Contest 2020  (USA - announced in 2021).
  • Winner of the 2021 iWoman Global Award for Literature
  • Honor Prize in Naji Naaman Literary Prizes 2021  (International/Lebanon).​
  • Highly Commended in the Anthology Poetry Prize 2020   (Ireland) - announced in January 2021.
  • Highly Commended in the Amnesty International Poetry for Social Justice Competition 2021  ​(UK).
  • Shortlisted for the Bridport Prize 2021  (UK).
  • Shortlisted and Commended in the Tom Collins Poetry Prize 2020  (Fellowship of Australian Writers, Western Australia) - announced in February 2021.
  • Shortlisted for the Bedford Writing Competition 2020  (UK) -announced in January 2021.
  • Longlisted for Live Canon International Poetry Prize 2021  (UK).
  • Longlisted for The Plough Prize 2021  (UK).
  • Longlisted for the Sunspot Literary Culmination Contest 2020   (USA) - announced in 2021.
  • Longlisted for the Trim Poetry Competition 2021   (Ireland).

2020

  •  Awarded 1st Place in the Into the Void Poetry Prize 2020  (Canada).
  • Awarded 1st Prize in the Proverse Poetry Prize 2020  (Hong Kong).
  • Awarded 1st Prize in the Published Fantasy Authors Competition 2020  (Australia). 
  • Awarded 3rd Prize in the Poetry Day Ireland Competition 2020  - Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital, Poetry Ireland and the Research Institute.
  • Finalist in the Atlanta Review International Poetry Contest 2020  (USA).
  • Awarded Honorable Mention in Crosswinds Poetry Contest 2020 (USA).
  • Commended in the Sutherland Shire Literary Competition 2020  (Australia).
  • Shortlisted for The Plough Prize 2019  (UK) - announced in April 2020.
  • Shortlisted for the ACU Prize for Poetry 2020  (Australia).
  • Shortlisted for the Allingham Poetry Competition 2020   (Ireland).
  • Finalist in the Australian Shadows Awards 2019 - announced in June 2020.
  • Nominated for The Pushcart Prize  (USA) by Beltway Poetry Quarterly.
  • Longlisted for Palette Poetry Emerging Poet Prize 2020  (USA).
  • Longlisted for The Fish Poetry Prize 2020  (Ireland).
  • Longlisted for the Alice Sinclair Memorial Writing Competition 2020 - Fellowship of Australian Writers, Lake Macquarie, NSW (Australia).

2019

  • Awarded 2nd Place and Highly Commended in the Planet in Peril Poetry Competition  (UK) - a joint initiative by Fly on the Wall Poetry Press; World Wildlife Fund; The Climate Coalition; Dr Michelle Cain (Oxford University); former Derbyshire Poet Laureate, Helen Mort; and wildlife photographer, Emily Gellard.
  • Awarded 3rd Prize in the  Proverse International Poetry Prize 2019  (Hong Kong).
  • Finalist and Commended in the  25th Annual Melbourne Poets Union International Poetry Competition  (Australia).
  • Shortlisted for the  ACU Prize for Poetry  (Australia).
  • Shortlisted for the Overton Poetry Prize 2018  (UK) - announced in March 2019.
  • Shortlisted for the Allingham Poetry Competition 2019 ​ (Ireland).
  • Shortlisted for the Galway University Hospital Arts Trust Annual 'Poems for Patience' Competition 2019  (Ireland).
  • Shortlisted and awarded Special Mention in The Aryamati Poetry Prize 2019  (UK).
  • Shortlisted for the Bestiary of the Night Poetry Competition- Hedgehog Press (UK).
  • Shortlisted for the Bangor Forty Words Competition 2019 (Northern Ireland).
  • Longlisted for Best Australian Science Writing 2019.

2018

  • Awarded 1st Prize in 2018 Alice Sinclair Memorial Writing Competition - Fellowship of Australian Writers, Lake Macquarie, NSW (Australia).
  • Awarded 1st Prize in the  Henry Lawson Verse & Short Story Competition 2018  - Traditional Verse (Australia).
  • Awarded 3rd Place in the Women’s National Book Association Poetry Competition 2018  (USA).
  • Awarded Highly Commended in the Fellowship of Australian Writers Queensland Literary Competition 2018.
  • Longlisted for the 2018 University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor’s International Poetry Prize  (Australia).
  • Awarded Honorable Mention in the 45th New Millennium Writing Awards 2018  (USA).
  • Longlisted for the Bedford International Writing Competition 2018 (UK).
  • Finalist in the SLS 2018 Fiction & Poetry Contest  (Canada).
  • ​Commended in the Bangor Forty Words Competition 2018 (Northern Ireland).
  • ​'Poem of the Week' on HeadStuff  arts hub - 18 May 2018 (Ireland).
  • Commended in the Roscommon County Library Poetry Competition 2018  (Ireland).

2017

  • Winner of the Glen Phillips Novice Writer Award 2017  (Australia).
  • Shortlisted for the Bedford International Writing Competition 2017  (UK).
  • Shortlisted for Hennessy New Irish Writing  (Ireland).
  • Shortlisted for the Cúirt International Poetry Prize 2017  (Ireland).
  • Shortlisted for the Eyewear Books Poetry Prize  (UK).

​2016

  • Shortlisted for the Bangor Annual Poetry Competition 2016(Northern Ireland).

2015

  • Shortlisted for Hennessy New Irish Writing  (Ireland).

 

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
Irish
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Clare
Ireland
Raised in: 
Clare, CL
Ireland
Clare
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Nov 10, 2021