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With the new year barely getting into its stride, the Irish literary world is already grieving the loss of two of its greatest practitioners, the poet Michael Longley who died on 22nd January, aged 85, and the novelist and playwright, Jennifer Johnston who died on 25th February, aged 95.
Both were hugely respected figures, not only in Ireland but internationally, where major literary laurels were bestowed upon them. Longley won the 1991 Whitbread Prize, a CBE in 2010, and the PEN Pinter prize in 2017. Johnston also won The Whitbread Prize, in 1979, and in 2012, she was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Irish Book Awards, memorably dedicating the award to Savita Halappanavar who had recently died from sepsis after being denied an abortion.
Longley was the last of the great Northern Irish poetry triumvirate that also included Derek Mahon and Seamus Heaney. Robin Robertson, his longstanding editor, said it was “an honour to work with him … Not that I had to work very hard, as every poem was close to perfect.”
A child of the playwright Denis Johnston, Ms Johnston wrote several plays including a stage adaptation of How Many Miles to Babylon, a novel which became familiar to generations of Leaving Cert students after its long-term inclusion in the examination syllabus.
Both were giants in their fields and their work will surely stand the test of time as permanent fixtures in the Irish literary canon.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anamacha