The New North anthology of Northern Irish poetry answers two major questions: how did the two great generations--with their huge international influence, exemplified by Seamus Heaney and Paul Muldoon--emerge from such a small place? And what is the future direction of Irish poetry in Northern Ireland? Young Northern Irish poets have reasons for continuing to make political claims in their work, but even for them other subjects are beginning to become equally pressing. These are transitional times, and poets will be there to record the changes, feeling troubled, perhaps even strangely nostalgic for the days when poetry was so politically charged and morally challenged, but with anticipation for the license the future offers. This groundbreaking anthology, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts as part of its International Literary Exchanges program, presents twenty Northern Irish poets, most born after 1955. The book is divided into sections, each headed with an exemplary poem by established poets Seamus Heaney, Derek Mahon, Ciaran Carson, Paul Muldoon, Medbh McGuckian, and Michael Longley. Poetry from Jean Bleakney, Chris Agee, Moyra Donaldson, Gary Allen, Damien Smyth, Andy White, Matt Kirkham, Gearoid Mac Lochlainn, Frank Sewell, Paul Grattan, Sinead Morrissey, Alan Gillis, Leontia Flynn, and Nick Laird.