Stewart Parker

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James Stewart Parker (20 October 1941-2 November 1988) was a Northern Irish poet and playwright.

He was born in Sydenham, Belfast, of a Protestant working class family. While still in his teens, he contracted bone cancer and had a leg amputated. He studied for an MA in Poetic Drama at Queen's University, Belfast on a scholarship before commencing teaching in America.

In British Poetry since 1945, Edward Lucie-Smith calls him "a rawer, rougher, more unformed poet than either of the other two Belfast poets presented here" (i.e. Seamus Heaney and Derek Mahon). He notes that all three are post-Movement and neo-Georgian, owing little to William Butler Yeats and not much more to Patrick Kavanagh.

The musical landscape of Belfast is integral to his work as a playwright. One could arguably call him the Van Morrison of the Irish Theatre. He would be honoured by the title, as Van Morrison was one of his favourite artists.

Parker died of cancer in London.

His plays include Pentecost, Catchpenny Twist, Heavenly Bodies and Kingdom Come.

An annual award (The Stewart Parker Trust Award) for best Irish debut play was set up in his name after his death. There is a cash bursary as part of the award. Previous reciepients of the award include: Conor McPherson, Mark O'Rowe, Enda Walsh, Eugene O'Brien, Gerald Murphy and Christian O'Reilly