Rita Ann Higgins (born 1955) is an Irish poet and playwright.A native
of Ballybrit, Galway, Higgins was one of thirteen children in a
working-class household. She went to Briarhill National School, and
Sisters of Mercy Convent, Galway. She married in 1973 but following
the birth of her second child in 1977, contracted tuberculosis,
forcing her to spend an extended period in a
sanatorium.[1][2][3][4][5]While confined, she began reading, and took
to composing poems. She joined the Galway Writers' Workshop in 1982.
Jessie Lendennie, editor of Salmon Publishing, encouraged Higgins and
oversaw the publication of her first five
collections.[1][2][3][4][5]Higgins was Galway County's
Writer-in-Residence in 1987, Writer in Residence at the National
University of Ireland, Galway, in 1994â€"95, Writer in Residence for
Offaly County Council in 1998â€"99. She was Green Honors Professor at
Texas Christian University, in October 2000. Other awards include a
Peadar O'Donnell Award in 1989, several Arts Council bursaries 'Sunny
Side Plucked' was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. She was made
an honorary fellow at Hong Kong Baptist University November
2006.[6][7]
of Ballybrit, Galway, Higgins was one of thirteen children in a
working-class household. She went to Briarhill National School, and
Sisters of Mercy Convent, Galway. She married in 1973 but following
the birth of her second child in 1977, contracted tuberculosis,
forcing her to spend an extended period in a
sanatorium.[1][2][3][4][5]While confined, she began reading, and took
to composing poems. She joined the Galway Writers' Workshop in 1982.
Jessie Lendennie, editor of Salmon Publishing, encouraged Higgins and
oversaw the publication of her first five
collections.[1][2][3][4][5]Higgins was Galway County's
Writer-in-Residence in 1987, Writer in Residence at the National
University of Ireland, Galway, in 1994â€"95, Writer in Residence for
Offaly County Council in 1998â€"99. She was Green Honors Professor at
Texas Christian University, in October 2000. Other awards include a
Peadar O'Donnell Award in 1989, several Arts Council bursaries 'Sunny
Side Plucked' was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. She was made
an honorary fellow at Hong Kong Baptist University November
2006.[6][7]
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