Anne Casey
Paperback 2025
For the 180th anniversary of the Great Irish Famine’s commencement, Seang (Hungering) poignantly reclaims the human story behind the lost history of a group of rebel girls who were daughters of Irish famine refugees to Australia. It seeks to restore voice to these girls and their families, who were silenced over and over during their lives, and who suffered destitution, discrimination, and intergenerational incarceration and hardships largely driven by colonial policies, attitudes and actions in Ireland and in Australia. Incorporating award-winning research and poetry, Seang offers a beacon for the 473 million children in our world today who are impacted by conflict and extreme food insecurity driven by the same three factors – climate, politics and economics.
The book is published by Salmon Poetry in Ireland – find information and extracts on the publisher’s website: https://salmonpoetry.com/details.php?ID=635&a=307
For the occasion of the Irish launch of Seang (Hungering), Anne received a letter from the office of the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins. President Higgins extended his heartfelt congratulations and offered his very best wishes on the launch of this important work and the accomplishment it represents. He commended the author on her commitment and dedicated research which he said was making an important contribution to a vital conversation on hunger, migration and displacement, offering a beacon for the 473 million children in our world today who are impacted by the devastating consequences of war, conflict and extreme food insecurity.
This poetry collection, together with the doctoral thesis outlining its research and writing, was awarded the Distinguished Creative Arts Doctoral Student Award (1st Prize) by the Deans and Directors of Creative Arts in Australian universities, a national award for ‘significant contribution to the field of research/practice, showcasing national-level research outcomes with international esteem potential’.
Originally from Miltown Malbay, County Clare in Ireland, Anne Casey is a Sydney-based, internationally award-winning poet/writer and author of five previous poetry collections, including one co-authored book. Anne has worked for 30 years as a journalist, magazine editor, media communications director, academic and legal author, holding senior positions in government and the private sector. Her writing is widely published and anthologised, ranking in leading national daily newspaper, The Irish Times’ Most Read. She has won literary prizes in Ireland, Australia, the UK, the USA, Canada, Hong Kong and India, most recently the American Association of Australasian Literary Studies Poetry Prize, American Writers Review Prize, the Henry Lawson Poetry Prize and iWoman Global Award for Literature. She has been nominated for The Pushcart Prize and shortlisted for the Red Room Poetry Fellowship.
Anne has long-standing creative collaborations with artists and musicians in Ireland, Australia and the US. Her work has featured in international art exhibitions and on commercial music albums. She has a PhD in archival poetry and poetics of resistance from the University of Technology Sydney where she researches and teaches creative writing. Anne also holds a law degree from University College Dublin and qualifications in media communications.
Cover image: The cover illustration is by Irish artist, Anthony Quinn. For information, see: www.quirky.ink.