David Toms is originally from Waterford, has lived in Cork and in Prague and now lives and works in Norway. His poetry is widely published in Ireland in journals including Banshee, The Stinging Fly, and Channel; and internationally in the UK and US. His work has been anthologised in Ireland and the UK, most recently in All Strangers Here (Arlen House/Syracuse University Press, 2021). He has received an Arts Council of Ireland Literary Bursary and Agility Awards.
Publications and Achievements
Turas Press published David’s collection of poetry, Northly in 2019.
His previous publications include:
- Soma | Sema (Knives, Forks and Spoons Press 2011);
- several chapbooks including For the Misanthropic Muse (Default 2009)
- Those Feet and Where They Are Going (Knives, Forks and Spoons Press 2010),
- dikt / actions osl / ondon with Maren Nygård (Smithereens Press 2017).
His poetry has also appeared in anthologies including:
- Veersomes #004 (Veer Books 2015);
- The Elysian (New Binary Press 2017);
- Wretched Strangers (Boiler House Press 2018);
- FREE POETRY: Ireland (Free Poetry 2017) edited by Ellen Dillon.
In addition to his creative work, David holds a PhD from University College Cork in history. He is the author of Soccer in Munster: A Social History, 1877-1937, (Cork University Press 2015) and with co-editor, Conor Curran, of New Perspectives on Association Football in Ireland: Beyond the Garrison Game (Routledge 2018.) His historical writing has appeared in Lookleft, History Ireland, Irish Economic and Social History, Decies, Sport in History, Sport in Society, and Soccer & Society.
Northly is David’s first full collection to be published in Ireland.
“The nostalgia of the emigrant far from home is here coupled with an unrelenting realism in poems of clarity, vigour and beauty. From his ‘water-mouthed’ home city of Waterford, to the bitter cold of his new home, Oslo, work and politics, the sea, history and the present crowd this collection. Everywhere is winter, its beauty and its hurt, the loveliness of the ice in the heart. “
William Wall
“Northly takes us on a 21st century migrant’s voyage to a place and language of ancient lore. The shared history of Ireland and Scandinavia is the driving force of these poems, with water as the dominant element through which David Toms navigates our ghosts, mythologies, cities. Starkly precise in his observations, Toms reminds us that we are constantly resolving “…in new voices / what time dissolved”. The present, as well as our choices in life, are no accident.”
Anamaría Crowe Serrano
To hear David in conversation with Sam Murphy about the development of Northly, take a look at this interview on Headstuff
There is a film poem of Northly created by David.
He has also created a video documenting the process of developing the cover of Northly.
To learn more about David’s reading and writing work, visit his substack.
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