Sam Burnside Author

Sam Burnside was born in Co. Antrim and now lives and works in the city of Derry~Londonderry where he was founder and first Director of the Verbal Arts Centre, an educational charity established in 1992 to promote literature in all its forms. Described by the Derry Journal as 'one of the most important literary figures living in the north west', his work has received praise for its craftsmanship ('verse that is even-pitched and meticulously crafted', Linenhall Review) and for the ways in which it sympathetically explores the experience of living in Northern Ireland. He is the author of 'The Cathedral' a long poem that won the Sunday Tribune/Hennessy Literary Award for Poetry in 1989. His work has attracted a number of literary prizes, including an Allingham Poetry Prize, the University of Ulster's McCrea Literary Award for Literature and a Bass Ireland Award. His poetry has been published and broadcast widely. Sam was awarded an MBE in 2012 for services to the arts.