__NOTOC__ Sally Read (born 1971 in

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

) is a British poet and writer and former psychiatric nurse.

Early life and education

Sally Read attended Tavistock Comprehensive School. She received a BA from

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

and then an MA from the

University of South Dakota The University of South Dakota (USD) is a public research university in Vermillion, South Dakota, United States. Established by the Dakota Territory legislature in 1862, 27 years before the establishment of the state of South Dakota, USD is t ...

Work and awards

Read shared the

Eric Gregory Award The Eric Gregory Award is a literary award given annually by the Society of Authors for a collection by United Kingdom poets under the age of 30. The award was founded in 1960 by Dr. Eric Gregory to support and encourage young poets. Past winne ...

in 2001. Her first collection, ''The Point of Splitting'', was shortlisted for the Jerwood-Aldeburgh First Collection prize. A selection of her works, ''Punto di Rottura'', is also available in Italian. Her poems have been anthologized in numerous volumes, including "Roddy Lumsden's ''Identity Parade'' and Forward's ''Poems of the Decade''. Read's first collection of poetry since her conversion, ''Dawn of this Hunger'' took first place for poetry at the Catholic Media Association Awards in 2022. She has also written for the Times Literary Supplement, The Catholic Herald, The Tablet, The Humanum Review and Magnificat among other periodicals and papers. Read has also published two memoirs: ''Night's Bright Darkness'' (2016) (see below) and ''The Mary Pages'' (2024), which was awarded best biography in the 2025 Association of Catholic Publishers awards. Read's book ''Annunciation'' was the subject of a short film for EWTNGB by Norman Servais and Kevin Turley. She is editor of Word on Fire's ''100 Great Catholic Poems'' (Nov 2023)

Religious and personal life

A lifelong atheist, Read converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in 2010.Catholic News Agency
/ref> She wrote a book about her conversion experience, ''Night's Bright Darkness''. Read was poet in residence from 2011-2021 at The Hermitage of the Three Holy Hierarchs, which is an eparchial-rite form of consecrated life under the jurisdiction of Bishop

Bryan Bayda Bryan may refer to: Places in the United States * Bryan, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Bryan, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * Bryan, Ohio, a city * Bryan, Texas, a city * Bryan, Wyoming, a ghost town * Bryan County, Georgia * ...

, the Eparch of

Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saskatoon The Eparchy of Saskatoon () is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church ecclesiastical territory or eparchy of the Catholic Church in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The eparchy's cathedral is the Cathedral of St. George in the episcopal see of ...

. Fr. Gregory Hrynkiw, of the group, played a role in her conversion. Read's role in the hermitage continues, as a member. Read lives with her husband and daughter (Celia Florence, to whom her book “Annunciation: A Call to Faith in a Broken World” is dedicated) in

Santa Marinella Santa Marinella is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, in the Italy, Italian region of Lazio, located about northwest of Rome. It includes the beach resort of Santa Severa (the ancient Pyrgi), and a medieval ca ...

Works

* ''The Point of Splitting'' (Bloodaxe Books, 2005) * ''Broken Sleep'' (Bloodaxe Books, 2009) * ''The Day Hospital'' (Bloodaxe Books, 2012) * ''Night's Bright Darkness: A Modern Conversion Story'' (

Ignatius Press Ignatius Press is a Catholic theological publishing house based in San Francisco, California, in the United States. It was founded in 1978 by Father Joseph Fessio, a former pupil of both Henri de Lubac and Pope Benedict XVI. Named after Ignatiu ...

, 2016) (Translated into Polish, Slovenian, Slovakian and Czech) * ''Annunciation: A Call to Faith in a Broken World'' (Ignatius Press, 2019) * ''Dawn of this Hunger'' (Angelico Press, Second Spring, 2021) * ''100 Great Catholic Poems'' (Word on Fire, November 2023), edited and commentary by Read * ''The Mary Pages'' (Word on Fire, 2024)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Read, Sally 1971 births Converts to Roman Catholicism from atheism or agnosticism English Catholic poets English Roman Catholic writers Alumni of the Open University University of South Dakota alumni English Roman Catholics English expatriates in Italy People from the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital Living people