Author Profile - Matthew Sweeney

Matthew Sweeney (Eng)

Has built a place for himself in British letters as a daringly inventive, caustically witty and precise poet whose work has more often been compared to the prose of Samuel Beckett or Patrick McCabe than to the poetry of his contemporaries. His numerous poetry collections, the latest of which is A Smell of Fish, testify to an imagination both profound and engagingly comic - an imagination he has also brought to writing fiction and poetry collections for children. Born in Donegal and educated in England, Ireland and Germany, Sweeney has lived in London for some years and is active as a reviewer, a teacher, and an artist-in-residence.

Up on the Roof: New York: Faber & Faber, 2001

Publications

Up On The Roof is a collection of poems which reflect the diverse experiences of childhood. Everything from listening to an adult party taking place downstairs in the poem “Benjy and Me” to the effects of everyone being angry at dinner in “After Dinner”, Matthew Sweeney takes childhood experiences and distills them into small gems of poetry. The fantastical also has a presence in the collection through such poems as “The Silent Knight”, “The God of Smell”, “The Goddess of Ice”, and “The Goddess of Poison.” The collection shows why Matthew Sweeney is being called “one of the most exciting and original writers of childrens poetry.”

	Up on the Roof, New and Selected Poems for Children New York: Faber & Faber, 2001
	The New Faber Book of Childrens Verse New York: Faber & Faber, 2001
	A Smell of Fish London, UK: Cape, 2000 (adult)
	The Bridal Suite London, UK: Cape, 1997 (adult)
	Beyond Bedlam: Poems Written Out of Mental Distress London, UK: Anvil, 1997
	Writing Poetry London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1997
	Emergency Kit: Poems for Strange Times New York: Faber & Faber, 1996 (adult)
	Fatso in the Red Suit New York: Faber & Faber, 1995
	The Flying Spring Onion New York: Faber & Faber, 1992
	The Snow Vulture New York: Faber & Faber, 1992 (adult)

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Resources

Up On The Roof



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