Dermot Healy (9 November 1947 – 29 June 2014) was an Irish novelist, playwright, poet and short story writer. A member of Aosdána, Healy was also part of its governing body, the Toscaireacht. Born in

Finea Finnea () is a small village in County Westmeath on the border with County Cavan. It straddles the R394 road, in the northern portion of Ireland. Transport Bus Éireann route 447 provides a link to Castlepollard, Crookedwood and Mullingar on Th ...

County Westmeath "Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Sovereign state, Country , subdivision_name = Republic of Ireland, Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Provinces o ...

, he lived in

County Sligo County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in the county. Sligo County Council is the local ...

, and was described variously as a "master", a "Celtic Hemingway" and as "Ireland's finest living novelist". Often overlooked due to his relatively low public profile, Healy's work is admired by his Irish literary predecessors, peers and successors alike, many of whom idolise him—among the writers to have spoken highly of him are

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Eugene McCabe Eugene McCabe (7 July 1930 – 27 August 2020) was a Scots-born Irish novelist, short story writer, playwright, and television screenwriter. John Banville said McCabe was "in the first rank of contemporary Irish novelists'. Biography Born to ...

, Roddy Doyle, Patrick McCabe and Anne Enright. He was longlisted for the

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a Literary award, literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United King ...

with his Novel ''A Goats Song''. Healy won the Hennessy Award (1974 and 1976), the Tom Gallon Award (1983), and the

Encore Award The £10,000 Encore Award for the best second novel was first awarded in 1990. It is sponsored by Lucy Astor. The award fills a niche in the catalogue of literary prizes by celebrating the achievement of outstanding second novels, often neglecte ...

(1995). In 2011, he was shortlisted for the Poetry Now Award for his 2010 poetry collection, ''A Fool's Errand''. ''Long Time, No See'' was nominated for the International Dublin Literary Award, the world's most valuable literary award for a single work in the English language, by libraries in Russia and Norway.

Life

Healy was born in

, the son of a

Guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

. As a child the family moved to

Cavan Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road that links Dublin (to the south) with Enniskillen, Bally ...

, where Healy attended the local secondary school. In his late teens he moved to London and worked in a succession of jobs, including barman, security man and as a labourer. He later returned to Ireland, settling in Ballyconnell,

, a small settlement on the Atlantic coast. He died at his home on 29 June 2014, while awaiting an ambulance after suddenly being taken ill. He was laid to rest at Carrigans Cemetery following funeral mass by Fr. Michael Donnelly at St Patrick's Church in Maugherow.

Style

Healy's work is influenced by an eclectic range of writers from around the world, including Anna Akhmatova,

John Arden John Arden (26 October 1930 – 28 March 2012) was an English playwright who at his death was lauded as "one of the most significant British playwrights of the late 1950s and early 60s". Career Born in Barnsley, son of the manager of a glass f ...

, Isaac Babel, Bashō,

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...

, Angela Carter,

J. M. Coetzee John Maxwell Coetzee OMG (born 9 February 1940) is a South African–Australian novelist, essayist, linguist, translator and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is one of the most critically acclaimed and decorated authors in ...

, Emily Dickinson, Maria Edgeworth,

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include ''Demian'', ''Steppenwolf (novel), Steppenwolf'', ''Siddhartha (novel), Siddhartha'', and ''The Glass Bead Game'', ...

, Nâzım Hikmet,

Aidan Higgins Aidan Higgins (3 March 1927 – 27 December 2015) was an Irish writer. He wrote short stories, travel pieces, radio drama and novels. Among his published works are '' Langrishe, Go Down'' (1966), '' Balcony of Europe'' (1972) and the biographic ...

Miroslav Holub Miroslav Holub (; 13 September 1923 – 14 July 1998) was a Czech poet and immunologist. Holub's work was heavily influenced by his experiences as an Immunologist, writing many poems using his scientific knowledge to poetic effect. His work ...

Eugène Ionesco Eugène Ionesco (; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century. Ionesco inst ...

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...

, Mary Lavin, Federico García Lorca,

Guy de Maupassant Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, remembered as a master of the short story form, as well as a representative of the Naturalist school, who depicted human lives, destin ...

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...

, Sylvia Plath,

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

and

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

. Healy wrote in a shed (though, on being a writer, was quoted as saying: "I know writing is what I do but I still don't see myself as one") and was fascinated by

etymology Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...

List of works

Fiction

* ''Banished Misfortune'' (London: Allison & Busby, 1982), collected short stories * ''Fighting with Shadows'' (London: Allison & Busby 1984) * '' A Goat's Song'' (London: Collins Harvill, 1994) * ''Sudden Times'' (London:

The Harvill Press Harvill Secker is a British publishing company formed in 2005 from the merger of Secker & Warburg and the Harvill Press. History Secker & Warburg Secker & Warburg was formed in 1935 from a takeover of Martin Secker, which was in receivership, ...

, 1999) * ''Long Time, No See'' (

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...

, 2011) * ''The Collected Short Stories'' (

Dalkey Archive Press Dalkey Archive Press is an American publisher of fiction, poetry, foreign translations and literary criticism specializing in the publication or republication of lesser-known, often avant-garde works. The company has offices in Funks Grove, Il ...

, 2015)

Autobiography

* ''The Bend for Home'' (Harvill, 1996)

Plays

*''Here and There and Going to America'' (1985) *''The Long Swim'' (1988) *''Curtains'' (1990) *''On Broken Wings'' (1992) *''Last Night's Fun'' (1994) *''Boxes'' (1998) *''Mister Staines'' (1999) *''Metagama'' (2005) *''A Night at the Disco'' (2006) *''The Collected Plays'' (

, 2016)

Poetry

*''Neighbours' Lights'' (1992) *''The Ballyconnel Colours'' (1995) *''What the Hammer'' (1998) *''The Reed Bed'' (2001) *''A Fool's Errand'' (The Gallery Press, 2010)

Film

*''

I Could Read the Sky ''I Could Read the Sky'' is a 1999 Irish film directed by Nichola Bruce. It is based upon a photographic novel by Timothy O'Grady and Steve Pyke, which concerns the Irish experience of emigration and exile. It has been described as an "innovative, ...

'' (1999) s an actor

References

External links

Dermot Healy
at Aosdána
Dermot Healy
at Irish Writers Online
''The Writing in the Sky''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Healy, Dermot 1947 births 2014 deaths Aosdána members Irish male dramatists and playwrights Irish male short story writers People from County Westmeath 20th-century Irish dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Irish novelists 20th-century Irish male writers Irish male novelists 20th-century Irish poets Irish male poets 21st-century Irish dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Irish novelists 21st-century Irish poets 20th-century Irish short story writers 21st-century Irish short story writers 21st-century Irish male writers