JOSEPH WOODS was born in Drogheda in 1966. He trained as a scientist and, after extensive travel in Asia and Japan, completed an MA in Creative Writing (Lancaster University) at the Poet’s House, County Antrim. Widely published in journals at home and abroad, he has read and broadcast in Italy and Austria. He is currently Director of Poetry Ireland.
Sailing to Hokkaido is the first collection by Joseph Woods. In 2000 the book won the prestigious Patrick Kavanagh Award for Best First Collection.
In this volume of forty-five poems a wide spectrum of poetic landscapes and perspectives is unified by the strength of the poet’s voice which is “easy and melodic, sometimes casual, sometimes deceptively smooth but always alert”. As Eil’ean N’? Chuillean’ain, poet and Dean of Arts (Letters) at Trinity College, Dublin continues: “the colour is electrifying, as in ‘Private Language’… Elsewhere in ‘Trans-Siberian’ or ‘Interview’ it is muted and controlled… If Woods is technically expert it is not to dazzle but to reveal his subject matter… His work as a whole shows an impressive reach and range.”
