Sarah Byrne
My writing explores life lived at the peripheries of violence: its aftermaths, acts of witnessing, and the quiet, often overlooked moments where harm intersects with the ordinary. I’m drawn to portraying bodies that are awkward, vulnerable, or self-conscious like mine (I have a co-ordination disorder called dyspraxia), and to the ways they are exposed, examined, and regulated without consent. Working through memory, observation, research, narratology and poetry, I try to investigate how histories of shame and fear are shaped by families, peers, and institutions, particularly in late 20th century Ireland.
I’m interested in moments when survival is provisional, agency is partial, and the body becomes a site of negotiation between autonomy and the expectations of others. I’m compelled by how gestures of care and cruelty produce lasting internal and external landscapes in different cultures. These spaces, between visibility and erasure, inform the ethical and structural frames for my work. Central to my current practice is also the ethics of witnessing: what it means to observe suffering, to be entrusted with another’s pain, and to confront the limits of one’s power to intervene. This inquiry is informed by, and converses with, my past work as a mental health practitioner and justice mediator. I’m currently based in the south of France, and predominantly teach online and by invitation. I also occasionally teach in person in Paris, London and Ireland. For bookings, please contact me by email.
Writer Awards & Residencies
- Swerve Writer-in-Residence (2025)
- Design & Craft Council of Ireland Award (2023)
- Literature Bursary, The Arts Council of Ireland (2022)
- UNESCO Dublin Writer Award (2022)
- Digital Writer-in-Residence, West Cork Literary Festival (2021)
- Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation Writer Award (2021)
- UNESCO Dublin Award for Poetry Day in Prisons (2019)
- Literature Bursary, The Arts Council of Ireland (2016)
- Tyrone Guthrie Residency, Cork County Council (2016 & 2017)
- Travel & Training Award, The Arts Council of Ireland (2016)
- 2nd Prize, Fish Poetry Competition (2016)
- Individual Artists Bursary Award, Cork City Council (2015).
- 1st Prize, Doolin Poetry Competition (2015)
Publisher Awards
- Literature Capacity Building Support, The Arts Council of Ireland (2021)
- Arts Grant Funding Literature ,The Arts Council of Ireland (2018, 2020, 2021)
- Arts Grant Funding, Cork County Council (2019)
Education
- Masters in Creative Writing, University of Oxford (2017)
- PG Certificate in Forensic Medicine, University of Edinburgh (2013)
- Arts Participation and Development (Level 8), Crawford College of Art (2012)
- Masters in Criminology, University of Cambridge (2007)
- B.A. in Sociology & German (Double Major), Trinity College Dublin (2007)
I have also completed advanced professional training in Restorative Justice Mediation (2015) and Independent Mental Health Advocacy (2010).
sarahbyrnewrite.com 