Woven cultures through art and poetry: Meet David Nash
Cultural ties between the Ireland and Chile have always been strong. The invaluable networks and links between our two countries allow for a dynamic and innovative creative and cultural bond.
From visual artists to leading writers, Irish and Chilean diaspora have built lasting connections from across the globe. One example of this fusion of cultures is David Nash, artist and winner of the Seamus Heaney First Collection Poetry Prize.
Meet David Nash
Born in Co. Cork, Nash has made Chile a second home — a place that fuels his writing, deepens his artistic vision, and connects him with a diverse linguistic and cultural landscape. As an artist, he embodies the spirit of exchange, creativity, and dialogue that characterizes the Irish–Chilean connection.
Seamus Heaney Poetry Prize
David Nash is a vibrant and creative presence in the Irish community in Chile. Living between Ireland and Chile, he has woven both cultures into a body of work that is gaining international recognition. In 2024, Nash won the Seamus Heaney First Collection Poetry Prize for his debut book ‘No Man’s Land’ (Dedalus Press), an honour supported by The Atlantic Philanthropies and the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University Belfast.
The Embassy highlighted this work in January 2025, as part of its ‘Noches Culturales/Culture Nights’ series. David’s first pamphlet, ‘The Islands of Chile’, was published in 2022 and later translated and published in Chile in 2024, with a launch event hosted by the Embassy.
Read the full interview with David Nash
How has your time in Chile shaped your perspective as a poet?
The change has been incremental, almost imperceptible while it is happening. But, if I compare the David who arrived in 2017 to the David who’s still here in 2025, the difference is enormous. They are two completely different beasts; artistically and personally.
I take a lot of influence from languages that are not English or Irish, and from cultures that are not my own. I use them intentionally because I want my English to be slightly off-kilter, a little strange, and therefore surprising.
Being immersed in another culture and having that, as a baseline is vital for the kind of work I want to make.
Do you find any cultural similarities between Ireland and Chile that resonate with you as a poet?
Not many, at least not in a way that directly shapes my poetry. As a person, yes. And that inevitably bleeds into the work. But what is impossible to ignore is the cultural weight of the poet in both places.
When I lived in England or France, telling someone at a party that I was a poet was like announcing a tragedy. Here and in Ireland, there is always a follow-up question, genuine curiosity. The figure of the poet holds cultural cachet for readers and non-readers alike. It is almost a calling card; it opens doors. In cultures with less respect for that figure, it does not function the same way.
What do you notice or feel when moving between these two countries?
It becomes a game of dichotomies. When I am in one country, I miss the other, and vice versa. There is also the code switching: speaking another language feels like putting on someone else’s clothes. And when I return home and slip back into the old wardrobe, it takes time to feel comfortable again. Sometimes that comfort never fully returns.
Living between two cultures means constantly shifting roles. For a writer, that is rich material, but also a never-ending learning curve. You keep changing, and that ongoing change is part of the excitement.
Read the full interview with David Nash
What aspects of Ireland do you find yourself missing most when you are in Chile?
I miss the rain, proper summer rain, which is absurd for an Irish person to say because everyone complains about it, but I genuinely, love it. I also miss the Irish relationship with language. It is not that Chileans lack irony or humour; they have plenty. But it’s different.
It is a cliché that Irish people are natural storytellers, but living abroad only proves how true it is. The dog in the street will tell you a story that is funny, interesting, and linguistically surprising. That is a very comfortable environment for me, and I miss it enormously.
Nature in Chile seems important to your work, how does it influence your writing?
Its influence is huge. Chile has vast expanses of land that are still completely untouched, as they should be and as they can be. That feeds the idealist streak in my work. Writing about the environment can be depressing, but Chile has material that helps me not to be.
The writer’s greatest responsibility, I think, is to observe.
What role do encounters with people play in your creative process?
A fundamental one. I ask questions, I listen, I learn. Conversations with new people always leave something behind, a phrase, an observation, a surprise. When you are not at home, surprises are constant. And the writer’s greatest responsibility, I think, is to observe. There is no better catalyst for observation than otherness. Feeling different here gives me a kind of bird’s-eye view that those who are fully inside the culture do not always get.