Maeve O'Sullivan
Maeve O’Sullivan is an Irish poet based in her home city of Dublin. Her poetry and haikai (haiku and related forms) have been widely published, anthologized and translated since the mid-1990s. Journals her work has appeared in include Abridged, Autumn Moon, Blithe Spirit, Cattails, Frogpond, Hedgerow, Modern Haiku, North, Orbis, The Heron’s Nest, The Irish Times, The Honest Ulsterman, Presence, Poetry Ireland Review, Skylight 47, Stinging Fly and the Wales Haiku Review.
Prizes
Maeve is a former prize-winner of the Brendan Kennelly Poetry Competition, the Listowel Writers’ Week Poetry Competition and the Haiku Museum of Literature Award (via Blithe Spirit). Her work has also been nominated for both a Forward Prize and a Touchstone Award.
Memberships
Teaching, workshops & mentoring
You can find Maeve
As a tutor in a college of further education in Dublin for over twenty years, Maeve has taught English, journalism, public relations, communications and professional skills development at various levels.
She has been leading workshops in haikai (haiku and related forms) for the same timeframe, including ones for the Anam Cara Writers’ and Artists’ Retreat, the Ennistymon Book Town Festival, the Irish Writers’ Centre,
the Dromineer Literary Festival, the Dublin Writer’s Festival and various libraries in Dublin City and County. Maeve has also developed her own modular workshop, which can be delivered online or off. Since 2014, Maeve has been involved in one-to-one haikai mentoring, and is on the Words Ireland mentor panel.
If you’re interested in either a workshop or a mentorship, please fill in the form in the contacts section of this website.
Books
Maeve is the author of five collections from Alba Publishing www.albapublishing.com, which have received highly favourable reviews in poetry and haikai journals to date.
Initial Response and A Train Hurtles West are out of print but can be accessed for free in the Haiku Foundation’s Digital Library. Vocal Chords is currently unavailable. Elsewhere and Wasp on the Prayer Flag are available to buy in the Books section of this website.
Wasp on the Prayer Flag (2021)
€12.00This is Maeve’s fifth collection with Alba Publishing. It chronicles the years from 2018-2021 in haiku and senryu. Rooted in Ireland and its varied landscapes, with some ‘postcards’ from the UK and Europe, this collection celebrates the inspiration and consolation of nature and the durability of human connections. Once again we experience O’Sullivan’s keen eye and her skilful combination of karumi (lightness of touch) with depth of feeling.
Charity Partner:
30% of all profits from sales of this book go to the charity Asral Mongolia.
Elsewhere (2017)
€12.00This is Maeve’s fourth collection, and charts a worldwide journey in poetry, haiku and haibun, a hybrid form which combines prose and haiku. Inspired by familiar European cities, and by more exotic locations ranging from South America to the Indian sub-continent, O’Sullivan conveys their colour, detail and impact, engaging in a lyrical cartography. You are invited to follow this route and explore the question of whether ‘elsewhere’ merely means being in a different geographical location.
Charity Partner:
30% of all profits from sales of this book go to the charity Friends of the Earth Ireland.
