Sally Read is a poet and writer based near Rome, Italy. Her latest book, the award winning "100 Great Catholic Poems" which, with commentary, features great Catholic poetry from across 2000 years and 20 countries, is out from Word on Fire. Sally's next book, a literary memoir entitled "The Mary Pages", will be published in November 2024. Sally has recently retruned to her role as Hermitage Poet for the Hermitage of the Three Holy Hierarchs in Saskatchewn, Canada. More details to follow.

​

Originally training and working as a psychiatric nurse, Sally left the hospital wards of London and completed her MA in South Dakota USA. From there she moved to Sardinia and published her first collection of poems, "The Point of Splitting", with Bloodaxe Books in 2005. After moving to Rome, and becoming a mother, she went on to publish another collection of poems, "Broken Sleep", this time with a focus on motherhood as well as nursing. As Sally completed her third collection of poems, "The Day Hospital", she experienced a dramatic nine month conversion from atheism to the Catholic faith, and this is recounted in her memoir "Night’s Bright Darkness" (Ignatius Press). A few years later she wrote "Annunciation, a Call to Faith in a Broken World", for her daughter. Using stories from her experiences as a nurse and mother, and through meditating on verses from the gospel of Luke, Sally defends the faith and shows how the Catholic spiritual life strengthens and protects us in anxiety and suffering.

​

Sally’s most recent book of poems, "Dawn of this Hunger", (Angelico Press and Second Spring) is fruit of her initial ten year appointment as poet in residence with the Hermitage of the Three Holy Hierarchs.

​

As a poet Sally has been nominated for the Jerwood-Aldeburgh prize for best first collection, received an Eric Gregory award, and won prize for best Catholic poetry book from the Catholic Media Association in 2022 and 2024. Her poetry has been recorded for the UK’s Poetry Archive, and her work, in both poetry and prose, has appeared in numerous publications and anthologies including, The Times Literary Supplement, The Independent on Sunday, The Manhattan Review, The Catholic Herald, The Picador Book of Love Poems, Poems of the Decade, Identity Parade, The Tablet, Magnificat, and the Word on Fire Bible. Sally’s work has been translated into five languages. She has also written lyrics for the sacred music of Paul Flynn.

​​

As a writer of twenty years who has always been honest in her searching and beliefs, Sally is aware that her first three poetry books (in "More Books"), and her most recent five publications ("Books"), come from very different periods of her life, and will appeal to vastly different readerships. However, the search for truth is evident throughout the body of Sally's work which continues to reflect her knowledge and experience of the sacred and profane. Sally is available for talks, workshops and creative consultancy in schools and retreat centres. She also works with individual writers.

​​