The tenth-century Saint Sunniva
made a miraculous voyage from
Ireland to the Western Norwegian
island of Selja, where she took
refuge in a cave. In 1170, her incorrupt
relics were translated from Selja
to Bergen Cathedral. This is an
attempt to liberate Sunniva
from her story.
Fiona Smith is an Irish poet with close connections to Norway. Her poetry has appeared in journals such as Poetry Ireland Review and Southword and in the anthologies Skein (Templar Poetry, 2014) and Over the Edge – The First Ten Years (Salmon Poetry, 2013). Winner of the Over the Edge New Writer of the Year poetry section 2012, runnerup in the Goldsmith Poetry Prize 2017, and recipient of a mentorship with the John Montague fellow Paula Bohince in 2022, she has read at festivals throughout Ireland including the Cork Spring Poetry Festival, and at Charlie Byrne’s bookshop in Galway. Travellers of the North is Fiona Smith’s debut collection.