EMILY
CULLEN
Poet
educator
Cultural Producer
Harper
About Me
Hello & welcome! I’m a poet, scholar, cultural producer and harper based in Galway, Ireland. I'm passionate about teaching across English literature, Creative Writing and Irish Studies. Currently, I am honoured to be the Meskell Poet in Residence at the University of Limerick where I lecture on the
MA in Creative Writing programme.
I have published three collections of poetry: Conditional Perfect (Doire Press, 2019), In Between Angels and Animals (Arlen House, 2013) and No Vague Utopia (Ainnir Publishing, 2003). Conditional Perfect, was included by Martina Evans in The Irish Times round up of “the best new poetry of 2019”. I hold a Ph.D. in English from the University of Galway (2008). My research on the Irish harp was supported by an Irish Research Council fellowship (2004-2007).
Commissions received include: resident poet on '1923 Reflections' Decade of Centenaries Project 2023, Dromineer Literary Festival 2022, Galway County Council Decade of Commemorations Committee 2021, Strokestown International Poetry Festival 2020. Funding awards include: professional development funding and two Agility Awards from the Arts Council of Ireland whose support I gratefully acknowledge.
Professional Services
Cultural Producer/Curator
From time to time, I curate literary events and cultural projects in collaboration with a range of clients. Curation is about connecting artists, cultures and audiences in fresh ways. To quote Hans Ulrich Obrist, it is "the attempted pollination of culture, or a form of map-making that opens new routes through a city, a people or a world."
Workshops & Online Courses in Poetry/Writing
I have taught Creative Writing for many years: at the University of Melbourne (2014), at NUI Galway (2019), online (since 2020) and currently on the MA in Creative Writing at the University of Limerick (2022-). My courses are tailored to beginners, intermediate-level and advanced writers.
I am part of Poetry Ireland's Writers In Schools Directory and have led poetry workshops for both primary & secondary-level students. I am a fluent Irish speaker and I also mentor other poets and writers.
Books & Reviews
CONDITIONAL PERFECT
Doire Press, 2019
"Discursive, widely-travelled, at once cerebral and lyrical, Emily Cullen's Conditional Perfect is an ambitious and beautiful work… This collection, a Cullen Masterpiece, will certainly beguile the reader with its astonishing range and poise." - Thomas McCarthy
IN BETWEEN ANGELS AND ANIMALS
Arlen House, 2013
No Vague Utopia
Ainnir Publishing, 2003
“With No Vague Utopia, Emily Cullen has produced a gem. Her language is rich and vibrant, and her metre musical and textured.”- The Stinging Fly, Vol. 1, Issue 17 Spring 2004
"the style […] is sturdily lyrical, the voice is confident and erudite, the vision insightful, the promise immense. This achievement - just that - notable." - The Black Mountain Review, Issue 8, Autumn 2003
Contact Me
"Her poetic style is lyrical, intelligent and confident and the poems are searching in a sophisticated and detached way...The poetry is erudite and far-reaching and, as the title suggests, it touches on the whole created universe, as the Elizabethans understood it!"
- Poetry Ireland Review, Issue 115, April 2015