Multi-award winning Miltown Malbay writer, Dr Anne Casey’s sixth book of poetry ‘Seang (Hungering)’ published by Salmon Poetry in Ennistymon has been Highly Commended in the prestigious New South Wales History Awards in Australia, which has a total prize pool of AUD$85,000.
The NSW History Awards were first presented in 1997 to honour distinguished achievement in history by Australian citizens and permanent residents. The Awards acknowledge the contribution of historical research to Australia’s culture and communities, and to society at large. The 2026 awards ceremony takes place on 7 September 2026 at the NSW State Library in Sydney.
Commenting on Casey’s book, the judges noted…
“A powerful collection of poetry, Seang (Hungering) recounts the experiences of Irish women and girls who fled Ireland for Australia to escape the Great Hunger of 1845–1851. Drawing on extensive archival research in both countries, including immigrant letters, famine ledgers and the records of such institutions as Newcastle Industrial School, Anne Casey transforms historical evidence into collective and individual stories through a powerful creative form.
She reworks traditional Irish poetic genres and language, and gives voice through the carefully imagined voices of the women and girls, which are raw and truthful as they recount their experiences of poverty and abuse on the streets, in their dangerous homes and the institutions built to contain and control them.
“Distinctive within this field, the book is grounded in rigorous scholarship illuminated in a thoughtful closing essay and shaped by great technical control as a piece of creative writing. This surfacing of lived experience is not only hauntingly moving and powerful but pushes our understanding of the female immigrant experience into new and memorable places.”
A powerful collection of poetry, Seang (Hungering) recounts the experiences of Irish women and girls who fled Ireland for Australia to escape the Great Hunger of 1845–1851.
For the occasion of the launch of the book in Ennistymon in June 2025, Casey received a letter from then President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins. President Higgins extended his heartfelt congratulations and offered his “very best wishes on the launch of this important work and the accomplishment it represents”. He commended the author on her “commitment and dedicated research” which he said was “making an important contribution to a vital conversation on hunger, migration and displacement, offering a beacon for the 473 million children in our world today who are impacted by the devastating consequences of war, conflict and extreme food insecurity.”
In recognition of her famine research, including the manuscript for this book, Casey previously received the Distinguished Creative Arts Doctoral Award 2024 – a national award in Australia for significant contribution to the field of research/practice, showcasing national-level research outcomes with international esteem potential – from the Deans and Directors of Creative Arts in Australian universities. Deriving from her extensive doctoral research, ‘Seang (Hungering)’ explores the life experiences of Irish famine immigrant women to Australia and seeks to give voice to the silenced through poetics of resistance.
Originally from Miltown Malbay, Casey has lived for three decades in Australia, where she is engaged in Irish cultural work through heritage groups in partnership with the Irish government overseas program. She teaches postgraduate research methodologies, poetry and creative writing at the University of Technology Sydney where she earned her PhD. Over the past 30 years, she has worked as a journalist, business magazine editor, legal author and media communications director, holding senior positions in government and private sector organisations. She previously headed the Enterprise Ireland – Australia/New Zealand office.
Casey is the author of six critically acclaimed poetry collections. In December 2022, her poem ‘Love in a time of chaos’ was selected for The Polaris Trilogy – to be sent to the moon as part of the NASA Lunar Codex archive. This poem landed on the moon for the first time on 2 March 2025 aboard the successful NASA Firefly Blue space landing, with a further flight also planned. Along with poems selected from each continent to tell Earth’s story, Casey’s poem will be protected from radiation and preserved for millions of years. It will be available for reading by astronauts who visit the moon for exploration and when stopping off on the way to Mars.
Casey’s writing is widely published and awarded internationally. Her poetry has been translated into more than 40 languages including Arabic, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Polish, Dutch, Tamil and Italian. Her other recent awards include American Writers Review Prize; Henry Lawson Prize for Poetry; American Association of Australasian Literary Studies Poetry Prize; and iWoman Global Award for Literature.
*Anne Casey featured on Clare FM’s Atlantic Tales series in 2023