Pit Lullabies

About Jessica Traynor

Jessica Traynor was born in Dublin in 1984 and is a poet essayist and librettist. Her debut collection Liffey Swim (Dedalus Press 2014) was shortlisted for the Strong/Shine Award and in 2016 was named one of the best poetry debuts of the past five years on Bustle.com. Her second collection The Quick was a 2019 Irish Times poetry choice. A Place of Pointed Stones a pamphlet commissioned by Offaly County Council was published by The Salvage Press in 2021. Her third collection Pit Lullabies was published by Bloodaxe Books in 2022. It is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. She has received commissions for poems from BBC Radio 4 The Arts Council of Ireland The Model Gallery Sligo The Salvage Press VISUAL Carlow Dún LaoghaireRathdown County Council and The Poetry Programme (RTÉ) and awards including the Hennessy New Writer of the Year the Ireland Chair of Poetry Bursary and the Listowel Poetry Prize. In 2016 she was named one of the Rising Generation of poets by Poetry Ireland. She reviews poetry for RTÉs Arena and for Poetry Ireland Review and has held residencies including the Yeats Society Sligo and Carlow College. She is an inaugural Creative Fellow of UCD where she completed her MA in Creative Writing in 2008 and is Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Writer in Residence for 2021-22. She is poetry editor at Banshee.