David Wheatley will be presented with the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature on Tuesday next. Wheatley has just published his first collection of poetry, Thirst, with Gallery Press. He won the Friends Provident Poetry Competition in 1994. Born in 1970, he grew up in Bray and was educated at TCD. He works as writer-in-residence with Wicklow County Council, and co-edits the poetry magazine Metre.