Catriona OReilly was born Dublin in 1973, grew up in Wicklow and Dublin, and now lives in Lincoln. She studied archaeology and English at Trinity College Dublin, and later held the Harper-Wood Studentship from St John's College, Cambridge. Her first collection The Nowhere Birds (Bloodaxe Books, 2001) was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, and won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. Her second collection, The Sea Cabinet (Bloodaxe Books, 2006), was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and was shortlisted for the Irish Times Poetry Now Award in 2007. Her third collection, Geis, is published by Bloodaxe in May 2015. She is a freelance writer and critic, and edited several recent issues of Poetry Ireland Review.