Paula Cunningham was born in Omagh and lives in Belfast where she works as a dentist.

Her pamphlet A Dog called Chance was a winner in The Poetry Business Competition. Paula’s poems have been widely anthologised in Ireland and beyond, appearing in The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing Vol. 5. and The New Irish Poets.

In 2011 she won the Hippocrates Poetry Prize (NHS section) and was shortlisted in the Edwin Morgan Prize. She took first prize in the 2011 Hippocrates Prize (NHS Category) and third in the 2012 Ballymaloe International Poetry competition.

Paula has also written plays for Tinderbox and BBC Radio 4, and a short story appeared in Faber’s Best New Irish Short Stories 2004-5. She currently holds an award from the Arts Council of NI.

Heimlich’s Manoeuvre was published by Smith|Doorstop in 2013. It was shortlisted for the Fenton Aldeburgh Best First Collection Prize.

Paula won second prize in the 2014 Gregory O’Donoghue Prize for her poem, ‘The Weather in the Mournes’.