Rooney Prize for Irish Literature.

'Though Caitríona O'Reilly's work is seldom less than beautifully intricate, there is an amplitude here, an exuberance which jousts in a thrilling way with her part-icular reÞnements. Though she might be, in her own words, "rational and unafraid", she keeps reminding us of "the primitive darkness", its fearful disorderliness. Whether enthralled or appalled, she beholds and magniÞes the world and its strange creatures (including ourselves) in poems that are formally versatile and linguistically copious. Caitríona O'Reilly's The Nowhere Birds is a stunning debut collection' - Michael Longley.

'The most startlingly accomplished debut collection by any Irish poet since Paul Muldoon's New Weather in 1973' - Patrick Crotty, Irish Times.

CAITRÍONA O'REILLY was born in Dublin in 1973, and lives in Wicklow. She is currently completing a PhD in American literature at Trinity College Dublin. The Nowhere Birds was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection.