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Heritage of Secrets ’20th Anniversary Edition’
“Heritage of Secrets” has echoes of Thomas Hardy’s “Far from the Madding Crowd” in more than just the name of the American sailor, Troy. With a keen eye for drama, Aoife Mannix navigates the peaks and troughs of intertwining lives in this exploration of a society in flux.
Available now here at flippedeye and here at Easons.
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Reconstruction
Aoife Mannix’s latest full collection begins with a series of poems that chronicle her recovery from cancer and surgery. In the wake of physical and personal transformation, the seemingly reliable constant of the outside world is in turn transformed by the global pandemic.
Available here at flippedeye.
Residencies
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Plot Lines Writer in Residence
I am currently writer in residence for Plot Lines, a creative programme for people living in and around Waterlooville. March 2025 Press Release: New creative programme to use power of words to connect Waterlooville area communities A new creative programme for residents in and around the Waterlooville area is aiming to connect local communities using […]
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Summer Opera School
I was a writer and mentor for the Opera Summer School run by Guildhall School of Music in Fontainebleau, France. I worked with composers Brendan Breslin, Charles Barker and Aran O’Grady on writing pieces inspired by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I also mentored writer/librettist Zoe Palmer who is doing a masters in opera composition […]
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Artist in Residence Spine Festival
I was artist in residence at Beckenham Library as part of Apples and Snakes’s Spine Festival. As part of this, I ran workshops for primary school children and teenagers using the history of Crystal Palace as inspiration for poems and stories. I wrote a blog about the project here.
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Communities
I was lead writer in residence for South Kilburn Speaks, a text based public art project with the Poetry School and South Kilburn Partnership. I worked with Turkish-speaking refugee women as part of In Between, a writer’s residency with All Change, supported by Arts Council England. This project culminated in the publication of a book […]
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Libraries
I was the official blogger for Cityread London, a London libraries festival project. http://www.cityreadlondon.org.uk/. Each year the whole of London is encouraged to read a particular book through a series of events and workshops. The British Library asked me to run workshops for primary school children in connection with their children’s poetry exhibition ‘Twinkle, Twinkle […]
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Galleries
I was writer in residence for the Gosport Gallery’s Artists Rifles Exhibition. This culminated in the launch of an anthology of poetry and stories. I was commissioned by the National Gallery of Ireland to write a poem for their 150th anniversary anthology ‘Lines of Vision: Irish Writers on Art.’ The poem was inspired by Jack […]
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Museums
I have been Writer in Residence for Portsmouth Museum working with their A Hard Choice exhibition. This culminated in the launch of an anthology of poetry and stories. I was writer in residence for the London Borough of Sutton in association with the Heritage Lottery Fund, Sutton Council and Spread the Word. This project culminated […]
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Theatre
I was poet in residence for the Royal Shakespeare Company creating an interactive theatrical journey Adelaide Road for a live promenade performance, an iPhone app and a website map inspired by As You Like It.
About
AOIFE MANNIX is an award-winning Irish poet and writer, the author of a novel, five collections of poetry, two pamphlets, and seven libretti. She has been poet-in-residence for the Royal Shakespeare Company and BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live. She has written articles for the Irish Independent and the Gloss (the lifestyle magazine of the Irish Times) among others. She has toured internationally with the British Council as well as throughout the UK and Ireland including the Southbank Centre, Latitude and the Big Chill. She has previously worked as a librettist with composer Stephen McNeff on ‘A Star Next to the Moon’ (opera which premiered at the Barbican in 2024), ‘The Horizons of Doubt’ (recorded by the BBC Singers as part of BBC Radio 3’s Afternoon concert) ‘Beyond the Garden’ (a one act opera with mezzo-soprano Susan Bickley), ‘The Walking Shadows’ (a choral work about the First World War which premiered at St-Martin-in-the-Fields) and ‘A Half Darkness’ (commissioned by Chamber Choir Ireland as part of the 1916 centenary.)
She has been commissioned by the BBC, the National Archives, the Portsmouth Museum, Youth Music Theatre UK, Apples and Snakes, the National Gallery of Ireland, the O’Brien Collection, the Bronte Parsonage, and Cherwell Theatre Company. She has taught creative writing at Goldsmiths, University of London, the University of Westminster, Anglia Ruskin University, and Bucks New University. She has previously worked as a script editor for the BBC as well as for Channel 4 and the Royal Court Theatre. She has a PhD in creative writing from Goldsmiths, University of London. She lives in Oxfordshire.