2021-22 Fellows
One of the best things about being a writer is getting to collaborate with other people in interesting and unexpected ways. I know that being a Seamus Heaney Fellow alongside Denise and Tim will give me the opportunity to do just that, and so I am both excited and grateful. I have been a reader and a teacher for so much longer than I've been a published writer. In truth, reading other people's writing gives me as much pleasure as producing my own stuff. It will be a privilege and thrill to help the widest possible range of writers develop their work. Wendy Erskine
SHC Fellow 2021-22
Wendy Erskine is a Belfast-based writer. Her debut short story collection, Sweet Home, was published by The Stinging Fly Press and Picador. It was shortlisted for The Republic of Consciousness Prize and The Edge Hill Prize and longlisted for The Gordon Burn Prize. It won the Butler Literary Prize and was optioned for TV.
Her new collection, Dance Move, will be published in February 2022 by Stinging Fly and Picador.
Denise Riley lives in London. Her writing includes poetry, the history of ideas, and philosophy. Among her prose books are War in the Nursery: Theories of the Child and Mother [1983], ‘Am I That Name?’ Feminism and the Category of 'Women' in History [1988], The Words of Selves: Identification, Solidarity, Irony (2000), The Force of Language (with Jean-Jacques Lecercle; 2004), and Impersonal Passion: Language as Affect (2005).
“I’m thrilled to have been fortunate enough to have been given this great opportunity to discover Belfast; I’m especially looking forward to working with the students in whatever ways might be of help to support their writing.”
Tim Wheeler is a Northern Irish singer, songwriter, and musician for the alternative rock band Ash. He has written nearly all of Ash's notable works, such as "Oh Yeah", "Shining Light", "Girl From Mars", "Kung Fu", and "Goldfinger". In November 2014, he released his debut solo album Lost Domain.
"The first time poetry really resonated with me was when we studied Seamus Heaney’s poetry in school. I was lucky to have a great English teacher, the novelist David Park. He used poems like “Digging” and “Mid-term Break” to introduce us to the power of the written word. He also loaned me Undertones, Clash and Kinks albums and that was when I learned that songwriting could have links to poetry.
I’m honoured to have been asked to be a Fellow of the Seamus Heaney Centre and I’m very much looking forward to working with the students in the coming year.”