Joseph Woods is a poet and Director of Poetry Ireland since 2001. Born in Drogheda in 1966 he studied biology, chemistry and subsequently poetry. He has lived in Japan, travelled for long periods in Asia, in particular China and India, and more recently Latin America.

Sailing to Hokkaido (2001) and Bearings (2005) were both published by the Worple Press, UK. For his first book, he won the Patrick Kavanagh Award. He has co-edited Our Shared Japan (Dedalus Press, 2007); an anthology of contemporary Irish poetry concerning Japan. Dedalus Press gathered his first two collections in one volume entitled Cargo (2010) and in 2011 published his third collection Ocean Letters.

Woods can't help but evince his deep and extensive engagement with contemporary poetry. Wide-ranging but subtle effects suggest there's much held in reserve here; and more to come.

Fiona Sampson,
The Irish Times.