Kevin Higgins, poet (1967-

'Kevin Higgins was born in London in 1967 of Irish parents. His family moved to Coventry in 1970, where he attended Sacred Heart Primary School [http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=Sacred+Heart+Primary+School,&near=Coventry,+UK&fb=1&view=text&latlng=932950829274711147&sa=X&oi=local_result&resnum=1&ct=result] , but returned to Galway City in 1974, where he attended St. Patrick's Primary school [http://stpatsprimary.blogspot.com/] and St. Joseph's College (the Bish) [http://www.bish.ie/] . At the age of fifteen he joined Galway West Labour Party [http://www.labour.ie/galwaywest/] ; became an active member of the local Labour Youth section [http://www.labour.ie/youth/] . He lived inLondon in the late 1980s where he was active in the anti-poll tax movement [http://militant.org.uk/PollTax.html] .Since the mid-nineties he has lived in Galway. With his wife Susan Millar DuMars, he co-organises the Over The Edge [http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com/] literary events in Galway City. He also facilitates poetry workshops at Galway Arts Centre; teaches creative writing at Galway Technical Institute and was recently Writer-in-Residence at Merlin Park Hospital. He is the poetry critic of the Galway Advertiser [http://www.galwayadvertiser.ie/content/] and, with Michael S. Begnal, was a founding co-editor of The Burning Bush literary magazine. Kevin’s first collection of poems The Boy With No Face [http://www.salmonpoetry.com/theboy.html] was published by Salmon Poetry [http://www.salmonpoetry.com/] in February 2005. The Boy With No Face was short-listed for the 2006 Strong Award for Best First Collection by an Irish Poet. His second collection of poems, Time Gentlemen, Please [http://www.salmonpoetry.com/timegentlemen.html] , was published in March 2008 by Salmon. In an interview in March 2008 he sharply criticised the contemporary left. Some of the poems in Time Gentlemen, Please were in turn criticised by the Socialist Workers Party [http://www.hurryupharry.org/2008/07/22/the-socialist-workers-party-turns-poetry-critic/] and others elements on the far left. However, others on the left have praised his work [http://www.salmonpoetry.com/theboy.html#redbanner] . He won the 2003 Cúirt Festival Poetry Grand Slam and was awarded a literature bursary by the Arts Council in 2005.Higgins is primarily a satirical poet.His poetry is discussed in Justin Quinn’s Cambridge Introduction to Modern Irish Poetry [http://www.cambridge.org/us/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521609258&ss=fro] (Cambridge University Press, 2008)