Sara Berkeley Wins Inaugural Yeats Society Poetry Prize for The Last Cold Day

Sara Berkely, originally from Dublin, has been awarded the first annual Yeats Poetry Prize for her latest collection, The Last Cold Days, by the Yeats Society Sligo. 

Published in October 2022, 'The Last Cold Day' chronicles Sara Berkeley's work as a hospice nurse through remarkable poems. Dermot Bolger from Sunday Business Post said that her work "contains elements of autobiography but never feels confessional due to the poise and composure in her language, distilling six years of her personal life and career, this collection is rendered with unwavering honesty as well as the understated humanity and grace that are the hallmarks of her work".

Peter Fallon, Sara's editor of the Gallery Press, which has been publishing her work since 2025, highlights that the author presents a credible version of life, its pleasures and vicissitudes. 

"In this remarkable book of record, a woman's life alters emotionally and geographically as the world is altered too — and she plays a valiant part in that mutation while earning a personal reward. It has been a pleasure collaborating on her poems and four books of them. Sara Berkeley's work is worthy of the applause of the Yeats Society Poetry Prize", he added. 

The Prize is a collaboration between the Society and Irish Independent/Mediahus Group and recognises the single best collection of work by an Irish poet in 2022. 

The shortlist:

• Sara Berkeley: Gallery Press, The Last Cold Day
• Tom French: Gallery Press, In Company
• Vona Groarke: New York University Press, Hereafter
• John Kelly: Dedalus Press, Space
• Rosamund Taylor: Banshee Press, In her Jaws
• Jessica Traynor: Bloodaxe Press, Pit Lullabies

Chair of Yeats Society Sligo Lorraine McDonnell thanked Irish Independent for its support and said this Prize is especially important in this year of the Nobel Centenary of WB Yeats, the first Irish person to receive the award. "Supporting and recognising the value of poetry in our world is dear to our hearts, and we are delighted to be involved with The Poetry Prize."

Other speakers at the 64th Yeats International School include Claire Keegan and Manchán Magan, poet Victoria Kennefick, Vona Groarke, John McAuliffe and Sean Lysaght. 

Academics include: Seán Hewitt, (TCD) Adam Hanna, (UCC) Jahan Ramazani (University of Virginia), and Nessa Cronin (UofGalway). Co-directors are Charles Armstrong (University of Adger) and Lucy Collins (UCD).