Author and poet given Arts Council bursary

Author and poet given Arts Council bursary

22 January 2014

TWO local rising stars of the art world are among 12 receiving a boost from the Arts Council’s Artist Career Enhancement Scheme (ACES).

Carryduff-based author Pauline Burgess and Ardkeen-based poet Matt Kirkham, in addition to receiving a bursary of £5,000 each, have been partnered with a professional organisation to help them deliver a major new creative work.

The ACES awards are made annually to professional artists working in music, visual arts, literature and participatory arts and are among the most prestigious awards bestowed by the Arts Council each year.

Pauline Burgess’s published work includes short stories and she has recently secured a two-book deal with Blackstaff Press for her Pony Palace series. Aimed at five to eight year-olds, the books are inspired by Lessans Riding Stables, located between Carryduff and Saintfield, and the characters based on the horses there.

Working with the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s, Pauline’s ACES award will enable her to dedicate time to working on her next novel.

“I am delighted and honoured that the Arts Council of Northern Ireland has deemed my writing worthy of the ACES award and feel that this is a real endorsement of my writing to date,” she said. “Over the last 10 years I feel that I have really grown as an artist and this is partly thanks to the Arts Council. Their belief in me has really helped me to progress as a writer and emerge as a new voice in Irish fiction.

“Over the next year I will see my first two children’s books published in the Pony Palace series and hope to complete a new novel for teenagers. This award will allow me the time and space to bring these projects to fruition and I am extremely grateful for this opportunity.”

Matt Kirkham, originally from Luton, works as a peripatetic creative writing tutor. His poetry collections have won multiple prizes and his work represented in a range of publications and anthologies on both sides of the Atlantic. He will use his ACES award to work with the Seamus Heaney Centre to help him create a new collection of poems inspired by the life and work of the revolutionary twentieth century mathematician Kurt Godel.

Roisin McDonough, chief Executive of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, said each of the recipients were already established and highly regarded in each of their fields.

“The awards are given in recognition of their work to date and to provide them with support to take their careers to that vital next level,” she said. “The ACES programme has been running successfully now for four years and addresses the need for on-going training and skills development within the sector.”