Jessica Traynor

Jessica Traynor

Dublin Arts and Human Rights Festival Ambassador

Jessica Traynor, poet, essayist, librettist, and poetry editor at Banshee, 2023 Arts Council Writer in Residence in Galway University, Dublin Arts and Human Rights Festival Ambassador

Jessica Traynor is a poet, essayist, librettist, and poetry editor at Banshee. Her debut collection, Liffey Swim (Dedalus Press, 2014), was shortlisted for the Strong/Shine Award. The Quick (Dedalus Press, 2018) was an Irish Times book of the year. Pit Lullabies (Bloodaxe, 2022) is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and was an Irish Times book of the year, and a Guardian Best Summer Read of 2022. It was shortlisted for the Yeats Society Sligo/ Irish Independent Poetry Prize.

She is 2023 recipient of the Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Award for Poetry. Other awards include the Ireland Chair of Poetry Prize, the Listowel Poetry Prize, and Hennessy New Writer of the Year.  She is a Creative Fellow of UCD, and 2023 Arts Council Writer in Residence in Galway University. She is a judge for the 2023 Forward Prizes and a poetry critic for The Irish Times.

As a dramaturg, Jessica has worked as Literary Manager of the Abbey Theatre. She now offers dramaturgical support on a project by project basis.