Individual Poems | Commissioned Poems | Edited |Reports | Poetry Collections | Long Poems | Exhibitions | Poetry Anthologies | Prose | Articles & Reviews | Drama | Articles About Sam | Reviews of Sam’s Work | Qualifications | Awards Received | Readings | Libretto



INDIVIDUAL POEMS

‘Burial’, Honest Ulsterman , Issue 10, p. 18.

……contribution to……, The Great Book of Ireland Leabhar Mor na hEireann, 199(2).

‘Muffin Man, Muffin Man’, New Poems from Ulster , ed. James Simmons, English Studies, New University of Ulster , 1971, pp. 10-11.

‘An Ideal State’, Quarto , Magazine of The Literary Society, The New University of Ulster, Vol. 3 No.2, April 1977, p. 19.

‘Usufruct’, New Irish Writing, The Irish Press , 22 October, 1977.

‘In and Out of Derry’, Literary Miscellany , Ulster Tatler , March, 1981.

‘Foyle’, Derry Journal , 14 February, 1986.

‘John’, Derry Journal , 3 April, 1987.

Six Poems, Murphy’s Law, BBC Radio Foyle, January – February, 1988.

‘In Memory of John Hewitt’, ‘On Chosen Ground’, BBC Radio Ulster , 4 September, 1988.

Two Poems, Visions International , Number 29, Arlington , VA , 1989.

‘Three poems’, Ambit 115, (All Ireland Number), 1989, pp. 60-61.

‘Mary Ann McCracken’, Cyphers , 30, Winter/Spring 1988/89, pp. 44-45

‘Let the Record Show’, Honest Ulsterman , No 89, Summer 1990, p. 13

‘The Spade’, Honest Ulsterman , Issue 89, Summer 1990, p. 14.

‘The Cathedral’, Poetry Please, BBC Bristol, 12 November, 1990.

‘Going Walkabout on Water’ and ‘Titanic’, Newsletter Poems Nos. 16 & 17, Ulster News Letter , 4 February, 1991.

‘Heritage’, Review , The Magazine of the Foyle Civic Trust, Issue 2, Spring 1991, p. 19.

‘Springtown’, The Spark , Issue 2, Winter 91/91, p. 25.

‘Coshquin Checkpoint’, Fortnight , March, 1992, p. 41.

‘On the Threshold Blues’, Newsletter Poems No. 86, Ulster News Letter , 29 June, 1992.

‘In and out of Derry’, The State We’re In, BBC Radio Ulster , December, 1992.

‘Let the Record Show’, Writing Ulster , Nos. 2 and 3, 1991/1993, pp. 78-79.

‘Three Poems’, Exposure , Omagh, 1993.

‘The Schoolhouse’, Honest Ulsterman , Issue 95, p. 98.

‘First Footing; for FJ D’Arcy’, Derry Journal , 11 February, 1994.

‘The Choir Vestry’, Review , The Magazine of the Foyle Civic Trust, Issue 5, 1994.

‘He is Endurance’, Honest Ulsterman , Issue 97, Spring 1994, p. 41.

‘The Moon Rising over Nesebar’, Honest Ulsterman 100 , A Special Centenary Issue, Autumn 1995, p. 13.

‘Nesting Time’, Honest Ulsterman , Issue 104, Autumn 1997, p. 19.

‘You Have Marked Me’, Flaming Arrows , Issue 6, 1997.

‘Gatekeepers’, Pages from a Book, an exhibition of paintings by Leslie Nicholl, Old Museum Arts Centre, 7 January – 28 January, 1998.

‘The Crows of Ballyshaskey’ (read by author), BBC Radio Ulster , 18 September, 1998.

‘The Crows of Ballyshaskey’, Honest Ulsterman , Issue 106, Autumn 1998, p. 28.

‘ Cruit Island Poems’, Cyphers , 45, Spring/Summer 1998, p. 16.

‘The Absentee’, Or Volge L’Anno: At the Year’s Turning , An anthology of Irish Poets Responding to Leopardi, ed. Marco Sonzogni, Dublin, 1998, pp. 99-100.

‘I am Eve’ and ‘Her Recipe’, The Salmon , No. 19, Autumn 1988, pp. 76-77.

Markings‘ (extract), Books Ireland , No. 224, September, 1999, p. 239.

‘Great Undertakings in the County of Coleraine ‘, Derry and Londonderry (History and Society) , ed. O’Brien, G., 1999, p. xxiv.

‘Sperrins’, Tyrone (History and Society), ed. Dillon, C. and Jefferies, H.A., 2000, p. xxxiv.

‘Walking to School’, The Salmon , No. 23, Spring 1990, p. 25.

‘The Day the Russian Circus came to Creggan Roundabout’, The Salmon , No. 23, Spring 1990, p. 26.

‘Easter Island’, Living Landscape Anthology, ed. D.Choice, West Cork Arts Centre, 1990, p. 7.

‘Poems from Passendale’ appeared in ‘Forms of Freedom’, by Sam Burnside, Lapwing Poetry, Belfast, 2015

Stretcher Bearer’ appeared in a ‘The Narrow Fellow, Journal of Poetry’, spring, USA. 2015

Seven Glass Panels, each incorporating a Poetry Text by Samual Burnside  – Open Competition, Garden of Reflection, Derry City Inner City Trust, Autumn, 2015

Heritage’, poetry text incorporated  in three stained glass windows, Culmore Community Centre, Autumn, 2021
Culmore Poems, Culmore Community Group, (work commissioned in honour of the people of Culmore)  October, 2021

The Wren’ in ‘Seasons of Blessing’, St Canice’s Parish Church, Eglinton, a fund raising book published by St Canices), Christmas, 2020

An Epithalamium’ (the very last poem in the final issue of the SHOp, number 46/7)
An anthology drawn from the 47 issues of THE SHOp a magazine of poetry. We are now delighted to tell you that such a book will be published, by the Liffey Press, in time for the Christmas market. And that you are one of the 286 poets who will be represented in it; one poem each.

‘My Name is Rebecca’, Hobart Books, Oxford, (a novel) Autumn, 2021

 



COMMISSIONED POEMS

St. Columb’s Cathedral: poem for Christmas.

Londonderry County Book : preface poem.

William Stewart McKee CBE 1952-2018
William the Bold’ (poem read at his funeral service on 17.12. 2018, Ravenhill Road. Belfast – by William’s friend Peter Smith / and written at his wife Ursula’s request just before he died)

Poem ‘Kate Bush meet Philip Glass’ poem written in response to & for  Leslie Nicholl’s painting 3.12.18 : Read at Linen Hall Library, September 2019

Where Kate bush meets Philip glass’
(for Dennis Greig, true friend of poets)
Linen Hall Library, a Lapwing celebration in tribute to Dennis Greig,  September 2019

 



EDITED

Triangle, The New University of Ulster Literary Society Review, edited by , Number 1, Summer 1973.

Poems, Templemore School , edited by Sam Burnside, 1979.

Borderlines, A Collection of New Writing from the North West, edited by Sam Burnside with a preface by Frank McGuinness, Holiday Projects West, 1988.

Ourselves and Others, Twenty One Prize Winning Poems Written by Young People, edited by Sam Burnside, Western Education and Library Board, 1988.

The Glow Upon the Fringe, Literary Journeys around Derry and the North West , edited by Sam Burnside with an introduction by D.E.S. Maxwell, Verbal Arts Centre, 1994.

Honest Ulsterman, Special Feature Issue: North By North West, Writing from Derry and the North-West of Ireland , guest editor, Sam Burnside, HU, No. 99, Spring 1995.

 



REPORTS

Writer to Writer, An account of a one-year community-based arts in adult education initiative, Studies in Community Education, No. 1, Workers’ Education Association, 1990, pp.

Training and Arts Administration in Northern Ireland , Workers’ Educational Association, 1991.

One Word – Many Roots,. Oral Traditions Across the Regions, Verbal Arts Centre, 1995.

 



POETRY COLLECTIONS

The CathedralFreehold Press, 1989.

Walking the MarchesSalmon, 1990.

Horses, limited edition handmade book with original wood engravings by Tim Stampton, Ballagh Studio, Co. Donegal, 1993.

Fahan Murawith an introduction by Frank Harvey, Lapwing Press, 1995.

A Will to Remember, (Linenhall Library, Belfast ) 2003

Innocents Abroad (Arttank Gallery, Belfast ) 2004

New and Selected Poems, Ulster Historical Foundation, Malone Road, Belfast,  2013

 



LONG POEMS

The Cathedral‘, The Sunday Tribune , New Irish Writing, 19 March, 1989, p. 21 – winner of the Hennessy Prize for Poetry.

Markings’The Recorder , The Journal of the American Irish Historical Society, Volume 12, No. 2, Fall 1999, pp. 36-53.

 



EXHIBITIONS ( word and image collaborations)

The Grey Eye’, The Grey Eye, with Leslie Nicholl (Artist) and Colin Corkey (Sculptor); Orchard Gallery, Derry (April 1996) and OMAC, Belfast (May, 1996).

‘Between One Day and Another’, illustrated by Leslie Nichol, in A Crazy Knot , Seacourt Print Workshop, (Catalogue, 1996, pp. 1-2); catalogue and Arts Council of Northern Ireland touring exhibition of words and images. 1996-1997.

‘Gatekeepers’, Pages from a Book Leslie Nicholl, Old Museum Arts Centre, 7-28 January, 1998.

‘Markings‘, Station Room Gallery, Belfast with L Nichol and and Forum Theatre, Londonderry .

‘A Will to Remember’, Linenhall Library, Belfast , 9 January – 18 February 2003

Innocents Abroad‘. Arttank Gallery, Lisburn Road , Belfast ) January – February, 2004)

Birds of Eglinton’, An Exhibition of Photographs of Garden Birds in the Year of Covid, by Sam Burnside, Culmore Literary Festival, Culmore, 24-27 October 2021

Birds of Eglinton’, An  Exhibition of Photographs Garden Birds in the Year of Covid by Sam Burnside, Eglinton Community Centre, October 2021

 



POETRY ANTHOLOGIES , Represented in –

The Derry Anthology , Sean McMahon, Ed.,Blackstaff Press, 2002

The Ulster Anthology , Patricia Craig, Ed., Blackstaff Press, 2006

Salmon, A Journey in Poetry 1981-2007, Jessie Lendennie, Ed., 2007

 



PROSE

‘Chicken, Chicken’, New Irish Writing, edited David Marcus, The Irish Press , 9 July, 1977.

Christmas at the Sunrise Bar‘, New Irish Writing, edited David Marcus, The Irish Press , 26 April, 1980.

‘The Road’, Literary Miscellany, edited Sam Hanna Bell, Ulster Tatler , March, 1978.

‘Quality Control’, Literary Miscellany, edited Sam Hanna Bell, Ulster Tatler , August, 1978.

‘My Name is Johnny Moore’, Literary Miscellany, edited Sam Hanna Bell, Ulster Tatler , May, 1980.

‘Christmas at the Sunrise Bar’, Twin Tides (from Derry Writers), 1984, pp. 21-23.

‘The Field’, The Blackstaff Book of Short Stories , 1988, pp. 91-93.

‘Voices’, The Blackstaff Book of Short Stories , 1988, pp. 94-98.

‘Story’, The Gift of the Gab, BBC Radio Ulster , 17th July, 1993.

‘Moving On’ and ‘John Colvin’s Profession’, Review, September/October, 1988.

A Story of Mice, Verbal Arts Centre, 2000-(a children’s book).

The Fourth Estate and Other Stories, Unpublished collection, winner of the McCrea Literary Award, University of Ulster , 1986.

 

The Verbal Arts Centre Story, Archived, Verbal Arts Centre

 



ARTICLES AND REVIEWS

‘No Water Under the Bridge; Sam Burnside revisits Sam Thompson and reviews the difficulties of creating a radical literature in Ireland ‘; Free Thought in Ireland , a supplement to Fortnight , Number 297

‘The Role of the Youth and Community Tutor’, Arena , The Magazine of the Northern Ireland Youth Service, August, 1979.

‘Sam Thompson’s Place in Northern Irish Literature’, a paper presented to the Irish Labour History Society, Linenhall Library, 15 February, 1986.

,Andrew Boyd; The Rise of the Irish Trade Unions’, Saothar 12, Journal of the Irish Labour History Society, 1987, pp. 73-74.

‘John Hewitt: A Dissenting Voice (Culture and the Working Class), unpublished paper delivered to the Irish Labour History Society Annual Conference, Jesuit Community, Milltown Park, Dublin, Sunday 8 November, 1987.

‘No Temporising with the foe literary materials relating to the Siege of Derry’,

The Linenhall Review , Volume 5, Number 3, Autumn 1988, pp. 4-9.

‘On Writing and Publishing in Northern Ireland ‘, Ask Anne , Ulster Television, 27 November, 1988.

‘Creativity in the Northern Ireland District’, WEA News , 1988, p. 9.

‘Preparing lonely defences’ (John Hewitt’s socialism), A Fortnight Supplement, July/August, 1989, pp. 3-4.

With others, Introduction to Lost Horizons, New Horizons, Community Development in Northern Ireland , WEA/Community Development Review Group, 1989.

‘The Construction of Heroes’, on Desmond Egan, Aidan Murphy, Dermot Bolger and Sebastian Barry, Honest Ulsterman , No. 90, pp. 90-91.

‘An experiment in Cultural Development’, Causeway Cultural Traditons Journal, Autumn, 1994, pp. 31-34.

‘Adventures in Developing a Civic Culture’, Honest Ulsterman , Number 99, Spring 1995, pp. 6-11.

‘Once I was a Washing Machine; The Working Class Experience in Poetry and Prose’, WEA News ,

‘The World from Ulster ‘ on Dugdale and Waterman; Honest Ulsterman ,; Number 93; ……., pp 79-80.

‘Desperate Realities’ (on Higgins and Dorgan); Honest Ulsterman, Number 93, pp. 81-82.

‘Hors de commerce’, the second John Hewitt Summer School, Books Ireland , Number 136, November, 1989 p.

‘Quiet Devotion to an Ideal’ on (Richard Murphy), Honest Ulsterman , No 87, Summer/Autumn 1989, pp. 76-79.

Six articles (John Boyd, Lynn Doyle, St John Ervine, Rutherford Mayne, George Shiels, Sam Thompson);Encyclopaedia of Ireland, Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 2001.

‘Within and Without the Magic Circle : The Literary Heritages of Derry City ‘, The Glow Upon the Fringe ; The Verbal Arts Centre, 1994, pp. 1-29.

Contribution to Roots of English; BBC Radio 4, 30 November, 2000.



DRAMA

‘Carleton’s Return’, with Ian McElhenney as Wm. Carleton (a period drama depicting Wm. Carleton’s return to his native Clogher Valley), produced for the promotional launch of the first Carleton Summer School, Linenhall Library, Belfast, 25 March, 1992.

The Long Now, A Play’,  (full text of the play).booksireland, 2019

 



ARTICLES ON SAM BURNSIDE

O’Connor, Fionnuala, Art of cycle maintenance; the other face of Northern Ireland ‘, Irish Times , April 6, 1982.

‘Defining the Inheritance’, Sam Burnside interviewed by Damien Smyth, Linenhall Review , Volume 6, Number 3, Winter 1989, pp. 5-9.

O Muiri, Pol, ‘If the Walls could Talk’, Irish Times , September, 17, 1998, p.

‘Burnside, Sam’, Dictionary of Irish Writers , .p 205

 



REVIEWS OF SAM BURNSIDE’S WORK

Borderlines: Work of Derry and Donegal Writers’, Derry Journal , Friday 24 June, 1988, p. 21.

Smeaton, Brian; ‘The Grey Eye Worth Seeing’, Derry Journal, 16 April, 1996, p. 20.

Clyde, Tom; ‘The Cathedral’, Books Ireland , November, 1990, p. 198.

‘Walking the Marches ‘; Derry Journal , December, 1990.

Boucher, Joe; ‘Walking the Marches ‘; Fingerpost , Vol. 4, No. 3, 1990.

‘Bennet, Peter; ‘Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Writers’ Group’, WEA News , Vol. 1, No.1, Spring, 1991.

Baker, E; ‘Many and Roses’; Fingerpost; Vol ?? , p. 40

‘Walking the Marches ‘, Books Ireland , Number 159, May 1992, pp. 110-111.

‘Walking the Marches ‘, Poetry Ireland Review , Issue 32, Summer 1991.

‘Walking the Marches ‘, Books Ireland , December 1990, p. 237.

Duhig, Ian; ‘Establishing Rights of Way: Walking the Marches ‘, Honest Ulsterman ,, Number 92, p. 93-95.

Gabhann, R.; ‘The Glow Upon the Fringe’, Derry Journal , 13 December, 1994, p. 12.

 



QUALIFICATIONS

BA, University of Ulster , 1973.

M.Phil, The Development of Short-term Response to Poetry in Selected Groups of Children and Adults: a Study in Experimental Aesthetics, with Implications for the Teaching of Poetry’, University of Ulster, 1982.

PhD, University of Ulster, 2005



AWARDS RECEIVED

McCrea Literary Award, October, 1986 (Value £500)

Bass Ireland Arts Award, Nominated Discipline – Literature; December, 1987. (Value £1000)

The Hennessy Award for Literature, November, 1989.

Allingham Award for Poetry, ( )

Stretcher Bearer’ collected in ‘Forms of Freedom’. Poems, by Sam Burnside, Lapwing Poetry, Belfast, 2015 (Stretcher Bearer was been nominated for the prestigious Pushcart Prize, USA, 2016)



READINGS

USA , Charlottesville , Cafe reading, 1994

Australia , Sydney , Writers Centre Reading (with Irish Consulate present), 2006

Belfast , The Queens Festival, Guinness Spot Resistance Caberet, 2005

Coleraine University of Ulster , Riverside Theatre ‘Resistance Caberet, Sat 3 November, 2007

Stretcher Bearer’  (an extract) appeared on BBC Radio Foyle, October 2014

Three poems read at PRNI with Bangor choir in performance / WWW event /1 Nov 2018

Poem ‘Remembrance’ read by SB in St Canices Church Eglinton, November 2018 as part of WWI remembrance service

‘Donkey Field’ Poem from Brackfield Bawn collection read at Star of the Sea Church, Portstewart for Christmas event by Helen Mark, December 2018

The Long Now’, performed at Seamus Heaney Centre 29 March 2019 and at The Theatre at the Mill on 9 April 2019

‘Heritage’ read by Sam Burnside, at the official opening of Culmore Community Hub, 2021


LIBRETTO

Columba Canticles (2013), words by Sam Burnside with music by Laurence Roman; first performed St Columbs Cathedral, Londonderry, 9th June 2013 and Parliament Buildings, Stormont, Belfast 10th June 2013.  London’s Southbank Sinfonia, Aberdeen University Choir and University of Ulster Choir. Conductor Sean Ryan.