A BALLYGOWAN poet is celebrating after his debut anthology was recognised by two major awarding bodies.
Stephen Sexton’s If All the World and Love Were Young was awarded the highly acclaimed American E M Forester Award which was previously won by Seamus Heaney in 1975.
His anthology, published by Penguin Books, was also shortlisted for this year’s Shine Strong Award – an award presented annually to the author of the best first collection of poems published by an Irish poet.
Stephen says his work centres on coming to terms with the death of his mother, Elizabeth, who passed away in 2012.
He said: “I started writing a book of poems that initially were meant to be frivolous and entertaining.
“However, as I began writing, the intense grief I was battling at the time came to the fore.”
Critics say what developed was a touching tribute to his mother which they described as a moving narrative exploring bereavement, family life, memories and loss.
The judging panel consisted of poets Colum McCann, Jhumpa Lahiri and Paul Muldoon.
As part of his prize fund for winning the highly acclaimed award, Stephen received $20,000 to travel and stay in the United States.
Downpatrick poet Damian Smyth, head of literature at the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, congratulated Stephen on his award.
He said: “The sense is quickly growing on both sides of the Atlantic that Stephen Sexton is already one of those rare poets whose obvious and prodigious lyrical gifts are matched both by accessibility and universality.”
He added: “It is poignant that the person for whom the whole book is an elegy – his late mother —never lived to see the acclaim lavished on her son.”
“However, there are few contemporary works which describe the human processes of grief, loss, hurt and how love survives and endures as memorably and as movingly as this one, with virtuoso technique and profound wisdom, which I have to say is already a classic. What an achievement that is and what a poet.”