Maria McManus was born between the bridges of Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh. A poet and playwright, Maria lives in Belfast. She is the author of Available Light (Arlen House, 2018), We are Bone (2013), The Cello Suites (2009) and Reading the Dog (2006) (Lagan Press).  Her writing for theatre includes work with Kabosh, TinderBox, Red Lead, Replay, Big Telly and Off the Rails, a dance company. 

Her passion is poetry in public space, and she has collaborated extensively with other artists to create Cirque des Oiseaux, DUST, and LabelLit. She has performed in Ireland, USA, the Basque Country, Portugal and Sweden.  She facilitates XBorders for the Irish Writers’ Centre and Under the Skin for the Seamus Heaney Home Place.  She has received numerous Arts Council of Northern Ireland awards, including ACES in 2015 and the Artists’ International Award 2016. She is artistic director and curator of Ireland’s only Poetry Jukebox.

Available Light is Maria’s third full collection of poetry. It is a contemporary intertextual exploration of the ancient art of augury – interpreting the will of the gods from the flight patterns of birds. The poems are unflinching and probe and explore questions of love, loss, migration, uncertainty, life and death, in its horror, brutality and beauty.

Photo credit: Leona O'Neill