The annual Ciaran Carson Writing and the City Fellowships were established in memory of Ciaran Carson, Founding Director of the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s, and are inspired by his writing about the city of Belfast in poetry and prose. The Publishing Fellowship recognises the Centre's ongoing commitment to the wider literary sector, with a particular focus on publishing in all its manifestations. 

The Fellowships support writers at this critical point in their career, giving them professional experience in the literary and academic sector, and allowing the University to maintain relationships with our extraordinary alumni.  

Marcella L.A. Prince is a poet from the Midwest. Her work appears in Poetry Ireland Review, The Midwest Review and The Lonely Crowd, among others. She is co-editor of Hold Open the Door a special commemorative anthology from The Ireland Chair of Poetry (UCD Press, 2020; U Chicago Press, 2021). Her PhD at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s focused on the Midwest landscape in the Robert Bly’s first collection, Silence in the Snowy Fields. Marcella is working towards her first collection.  

Emma Devlin is a prose writer. Her short stories have appeared in print in Banshee, The Irish Times, The Stinging Fly and elsewhere. In 2019 she won the Benedict Kiely short story competition, in 2021 she was longlisted for the Galley Beggars Press short story competition and in 2023 was shortlisted for the Mairtín Crawford award. Her writing has also featured on BBC Radio Ulster. She completed her PhD in Creative Writing at the Seamus Heaney Centre in 2024. 

Matthew Rice completed his PhD at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s in 2025, with a focus on representations of industry in the poetry of Louis MacNeice, Derek Mahon and Leontia Flynn. His debut collection of poems, The Last Weather Observer, was an Arts Council of Northern Ireland top ten books of the year pick in 2021. His current book, plastic, is available now from Fitzcarraldo Editions (UK/Europe) and Soft Skull Press (US). 

Welcoming the new Fellows, Professor Glenn Patterson, Director of the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s said: 

“As graduates of the PhD programme, Marcella L.A. Prince, Emma Devlin and Matthew Rice are no strangers to the Seamus Heaney Centre, but it is with great delight, and anticipation, that we welcome them back as Fellows. We look forward very much to working with them, and to all that they will bring to the life of the Centre, the School, and the city.” 

The Fellowships are worth £10,000 per annum for a recently completed PhD graduate from the School of Arts, English and Languages at Queen’s, and Fellows are encouraged to carry on with their own creative work, and to contribute to the academic and extracurricular programmes of the Centre. 

Fellows, working in all forms of creative writing, contribute to life at the Seamus Heaney Centre through masterclasses, workshops, one-to-one tutorials, and performances, and bring new voices to the academic and public arena.  

Media

Media enquiries to Zara McBrearty on email: z.mcbrearty@qub.ac.uk