Frank Farrelly was born in Ardmore, and has lived in Waterford City since 1978. He is a retired teacher of English and French, and only started writing 'seriously' in 2009. Since then, his poetry has been widely published in magazines and online. His first chapbook, Close To Home, was published with the aid of a Literature Bursary from Waterford ArtLinks in 2017. He won the inaugural Rush Poetry Prize and was runner up in The Fish Poetry Prize, The Doolin Poetry Prize, Poets Meet Politics and North West Words. He was shortlisted for The Writing Spirit Award, The Cuirt New Writing Prize and The Trim Poetry Prize. Recently he was Highly Commended in The Blue Nib Chapbook Contest 6. In 2019, he was selected for the Poetry Ireland Introductions Series. The Boiler Room is his first full collection.