Kevin Higgins (poet)

'Kevin Higgins was born in London in 1967 of Irish parents. His family moved to Coventry in 1970, where he attended Sacred Heart Primary School[1], but returned to Galway City in 1974, where he attended St. Patrick's Primary school[2] and St. Joseph's College (the Bish)[3]. At the age of fifteen he joined Galway West Labour Party[4]; became an active member of the local Labour Youth section[5] and a supporter of the Militant Tendency[6]. He emigrated to London in the late 1980s where he was active in the anti-poll tax movement[7], becoming Chairman of Enfield Against The Poll Tax[8] and an active member of the Labour Party in Edmonton, North London[9]. He was expelled from the Labour Party in 1991, for membership of Militant and "bringing the Labour Party into disrepute" through his support for non-payment of the Poll Tax. In the split which saw Militant founder, Ted Grant[10], leave to form Socialist Appeal and Militant announce itself as an independent party distinct from the Labour Party, he supported the majority Militant group led by Peter Taaffe. In May 1994 he was Election Agent for Militant Labour candidate, Darrell Kavanagh, who received 7% of the vote in Latymer Ward, Edmonton, Enfield. Since the mid-nineties he has lived in Galway. With his wife Susan Millar DuMars, he co-organises the Over The Edge[11] literary events in Galway City. He also facilitates poetry workshops at Galway Arts Centre; teaches creative writing at Galway Technical Institute and was recently Writer-in-Residence at Merlin Park Hospital. He is the poetry critic of the Galway Advertiser[12] and, with Michael S. Begnal, was a founding co-editor of The Burning Bush literary magazine. Kevin’s first collection of poems The Boy With No Face [13]was published by Salmon Poetry [14]in February 2005. The Boy With No Face was short-listed for the 2006 Strong Award for Best First Collection by an Irish Poet. His second collection of poems, Time Gentlemen, Please[15], was published in March 2008 by Salmon. In an interview in March 2008 he sharply criticised the contemporary left. Some the poems in Time Gentlemen, PleaseItalic text were in turn criticised by the Socialist Workers Party[16] and others on the far left. He won the 2003 Cúirt Festival Poetry Grand Slam and was awarded a literature bursary by the Arts Council in 2005. He has read his work at most of the major literary festivals in Ireland and at a wide variety of venues internationally. His poetry is discussed in Justin Quinn’s Cambridge Introduction to Modern Irish Poetry[17] (Cambridge University Press, 2008)