Photo by Ryan Parker Photography
About Me
Hi! I'm a writer, singer-songwriter, and dinosaur palaeontologist from Belfast, Northern Ireland. I live in Edmonton, Canada, on Treaty 6 territory. You can read some of my work in The Irish Times, Glass Buffalo, Funicular, Tesseracts 21, and The North, among other venues. My debut poetry collection, Separation Anxiety, was published by University of Alberta Press in 2022, was shortlisted for the Robert Kroetsch Award for Poetry, and won UNESCO’s Bridges of Struga International Poetry Prize in 2023. My plays, The Vote and Seanchaí, were performed at festivals this year, with Seanchaí winning Best Production and Best New Work at both the “Stage Struck! Edmonton One Act Play Festival” and the “Alberta Provincial One Act Play Festival”. In 2025 I received the Edmonton Artist Trust Fund Award and am currently working on my second poetry book, and bringing Seanchaí to a wider audience. Feel free to reach out for gigs, readings, collaborations or just to say hi!
Seanchaí at Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival
Rua Theatre is so excited to bring Seanchaí to the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival this August 2026! After two years of development and performances at small festivals across Alberta (including Edmonton, Medicine Hat, and Camrose), we’re thrilled for the opportunity to share this award-winning play with a wider audience at Varscona Theatre.
Get tickets here from August 5th:
ABOUT SEANCHAÍ:
When Fionn, a young writer, visits Siobhan, a retired Seanchaí (shawn-uh-key, Irish Oral Storyteller), to get some tips on how to tell a good story he gets more of a lesson than he bargained for. As the two trade tales of Irish heroes like Cú Chulainn and Fionn mac Cumhaill, they begin to explore the importance of stories in shaping what we remember, and in helping us come to terms with what we forget.
“Separation Anxiety is a brilliant, potent, poignant and significant debut by a poet destined to make his mark.”
Separation Anxiety, Out Now
My debut poetry book explores the emotional toll of different kinds of separation: from a partner, a previously held sense of self, or a home and the people left behind. It was the first Irish and North American book to win UNESCO’s Bridges of Struga International Poetry Award, and has been shortlisted for the Robert Kroetsch Award for Poetry.
“Gavin Bradley writes with great heart, vulnerability, and an engaging lilt and lyricism, taking the reader on an unforgettable journey historically, geographically, and emotionally.”
UNESCO Bridges of Struga International Poetry Award Winner 2023
Shortlisted for the Robert Kroetsch Award for Poetry 2023