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A review by bgg616
Tongues of Fire by Seán Hewitt
5.0
I originally reviewed this with a single word - stunning. Sean Hewitt is stunning to read, to look at, and to listen to. At the young age of 30 (born 1990), he already has won a number of poetry prizes - a Northern Writers' Award in 2016, the Resurgence Prize in 2017, and an Eric Gregory Award in 2019. In 2020, he was chosen by The Sunday Times as one of their "30 under 30" most promising artists in Ireland, and he is currently shortlisted for The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, 2020. He earned a PhD at University of Liverpool, and currently is on the faculty at Trinity College Dublin.
This is his first collection, published in 2020. He writes poems that is imbued with nature, emotions that are creep up on the reader, and then hit the heart, with a vision of a world that is teeming with life and beauty in every crevice. He writes of worry, grief and loss over a lover seriously ill in hospital, and his father as he succumbed to illness. Yet these are not poems that pull you down, but instead buoy you up with their beauty.
I facilitate a new (2020 pandemic response) book club that reads Irish poetry. It is part of a contemporary Irish arts organization, Solas Nua, in Washington DC. The mission of this organization has been for more than 15 years, the promotion of new art from Ireland. To this end, the readings for this group has been to focus on upcoming, as well as poets who have been active in the last 20 years or so. Sadly, in just a few years, several of the preeminent poets in Ireland- Northern Ireland as well as the Republic of Ireland, have passed away. They include Seamus Heaney (2013), Ciaran Carson (2019), Eavan Boland (2020), and Derek Mahon (2020). See https://www.solasnua.org/poetry-group for our reading list.
I found Sean Hewitt through the English book blogger Simon Savidge. He read Hewitt's book last spring and raved about it. Hewitt holds British and Irish citizenship, and works in Dublin so he fit our criteria. I wanted to be inclusive and include LGBT writers. He is the second so far. I will also share that the group were bowled over by his poetry. These videos will provide a sample of this collection.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHQC782ubHo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWjTrrq-I6c
This is his first collection, published in 2020. He writes poems that is imbued with nature, emotions that are creep up on the reader, and then hit the heart, with a vision of a world that is teeming with life and beauty in every crevice. He writes of worry, grief and loss over a lover seriously ill in hospital, and his father as he succumbed to illness. Yet these are not poems that pull you down, but instead buoy you up with their beauty.
I facilitate a new (2020 pandemic response) book club that reads Irish poetry. It is part of a contemporary Irish arts organization, Solas Nua, in Washington DC. The mission of this organization has been for more than 15 years, the promotion of new art from Ireland. To this end, the readings for this group has been to focus on upcoming, as well as poets who have been active in the last 20 years or so. Sadly, in just a few years, several of the preeminent poets in Ireland- Northern Ireland as well as the Republic of Ireland, have passed away. They include Seamus Heaney (2013), Ciaran Carson (2019), Eavan Boland (2020), and Derek Mahon (2020). See https://www.solasnua.org/poetry-group for our reading list.
I found Sean Hewitt through the English book blogger Simon Savidge. He read Hewitt's book last spring and raved about it. Hewitt holds British and Irish citizenship, and works in Dublin so he fit our criteria. I wanted to be inclusive and include LGBT writers. He is the second so far. I will also share that the group were bowled over by his poetry. These videos will provide a sample of this collection.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHQC782ubHo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWjTrrq-I6c