Michael Longley, (born 27 July 1939,

Belfast, Northern Ireland Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

), is an Anglo-Irish poet.

Life and career

One of twin boys, Michael Longley was born in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

, Northern Ireland, to English parents, Longley was educated at the

Royal Belfast Academical Institution The Royal Belfast Academical Institution is an independent grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With the support of Belfast's leading reformers and democrats, it opened its doors in 1814. Until 1849, when it was superseded by what today is ...

, and subsequently read

Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, where he edited ''

Icarus In Greek mythology, Icarus (; grc, Ἴκαρος, Íkaros, ) was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, King Minos sus ...

''. He was the

Ireland Professor of Poetry The position of Ireland Professor of Poetry is an academic chair, jointly administered in trust by Queen's University Belfast, Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the Arts Council. The post ...

from 2007 to 2010, a cross-border academic post set up in 1998, previously held by John Montague, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, and Paul Durcan. He was succeeded in 2010 by Harry Clifton. North American editions of Longley's work are published by Wake Forest University Press. Over 50 years he has spent much time in Carrigskeewaun, County Mayo, which has inspired much of his poetry. His wife, Edna, is a critic on modern Irish and British poetry. They have three children. Their daughter is artist Sarah Longley. An

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, Longley describes himself as a "sentimental" disbeliever. On 14 January 2014, he participated in the BBC Radio 3 series ''The Essay – Letters to a Young Poet''. Taking

Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an Austrian poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, and is widely recogn ...

's classic text ''

Letters to a Young Poet ''Letters to a Young Poet'' (original title, in German: ''Briefe an einen jungen Dichter'') is a collection of ten letters written by Bohemian-Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) to Franz Xaver Kappus (1883–1966), a 19-year-old of ...

'' as inspiration, leading poets wrote a letter to a protege. Longley has provided readings of his poetry for th
Irish Poetry Reading Archive (UCD)
His twin brother, Peter, died in 2013/14. Longley dedicated the second half of ''The'' ''Stairwell'' (2014), his tenth collection, to him.

Awards and honours

''Gorse Fires'' (1991) won the Whitbread Poetry Prize. ''The Weather in Japan'' (2000) won the

T.S. Eliot Prize The T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry is a prize that was, for many years, awarded by the Poetry Book Society (UK) to "the best collection of new verse in English first published in the UK or the Republic of Ireland" in any particular year. The Priz ...

and the Hawthornden Prize. It also brought him the inaugural Yakamochi Medal in 2018. He holds honorary doctorates from

Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

(1995) and

(1999) and was the 2001 recipient of the

Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry The Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry is awarded for a book of verse published by someone in any of the Commonwealth realms. Originally the award was open only to British subjects living in the United Kingdom, but in 1985 the scope was extended to in ...

. Longley was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours. Longley won a 2011

London Awards for Art and Performance The London Awards for Art and Performance is awarded in 11 different art categories, by the London Festival Fringe. It is awarded each year, at a central London venue, and is presented to artists and performers who have made an outstanding contrib ...

. His collection ''A Hundred Doors'' won the

Poetry Now Award The Poetry Now Award is an annual literary prize presented for the best single volume of poetry by an Irish poet. The €5,000 award was first given in 2005 (reduced to €2,500 in 2013) and is presented during annual Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown ...

in September 2012. His 2014 collection, ''The Stairwell'', won the 2015 International

Griffin Poetry Prize The Griffin Poetry Prize is Canada's most generous poetry award. It was founded in 2000 by businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin. Before 2022, the awards went to one Canadian and one international poet who writes in the English languag ...

. In 2015, he received the ''

Ulster Tatler ''Ulster Tatler'' is a lifestyle and society magazine based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, which was founded in 1966. Overview Established in 1966, the ''Ulster Tatler'' is Northern Ireland's longest established monthly. It has coverage of events ...

'' Lifetime Achievement Award. He was awarded the

PEN Pinter Prize The PEN Pinter Prize and the Pinter International Writer of Courage Award both comprise an annual literary award launched in 2009 by English PEN in honour of the late Nobel Literature Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter, who had been a Vice Pre ...

in 2017. The Chair of the judges,

Don Paterson Donald Paterson (born 1963) is a Scottish poet, writer and musician. Background Don Paterson was born in Dundee, Scotland, in 1963. He won an Eric Gregory Award in 1990 and his poem "A Private Bottling" won the Arvon Foundation International ...

, said: "For decades now his effortlessly lyric and fluent poetry has been wholly suffused with the qualities of humanity, humility and compassion, never shying away from the moral complexity that comes from seeing both sides of an argument." In 2015 Longley was elected a Freeman of the City of Belfast. In 2018, he was made an honorary fellow of

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

List of works

* ''Ten Poems'' (1965), Belfast: Festival Publications * ''Secret Marriages: Nine Short Poems'' (1968), Manchester: Phoenix Press * ''No Continuing City'' (1969), London: Macmillan: New York: Dufour Editions * ''Lares'' (1972) Woodford Green, London: Poet & Printer * ''An Exploded View'' (1973), London: Victor Gollancz * ''Fishing in the Sky: Love Poems'' (1975), London: Poet & Printer * ''Man Lying on a Wall'' (1976), London: Victor Gollancz; (1977) New York: Transatlantic Arts * ''The Echo Gate'' (1979) London: Seeker & Warburg; Mew York: Random House * ''Selected Poems 1963–1980'' (1981), Winston-Salem, USA: Wake Forest University Press * ''Patchwork'' (1981), Dublin: The Gallery Press * ''Poems 1963–1983'' (1985), Edinburgh: The Salamander Press; Dublin: The Gallery Press; (1987) Winston-Salem, USA: Wake Forest University Press, * ''Gorse Fires'' (1991), London: Seeker & Warburg; Winston-Salem, USA: Wake Forest University Press * ''Baucis and Philemon: After Ovid'' (1993), London: Poet & Printer * ''Birds and Flowers: Poems'' (1994), Edinburgh: Morning Star * ''Tuppeny Stung: Autobiographical Chapters'' (1994), Belfast: Lagan Press * ''The Ghost Orchid'' (1995), London: Jonathan Cape; (1996) Winston-Salem, USA: Wake Forest University Press * ''Ship of the Wind'' (1997), Dublin: Poetry Ireland * ''Broken Dishes'' (1998), Newry, N. Ireland: Abbey Press * ''Selected Poems'' (1998), London: Jonathan Cape; (1999) Winston-Salem, USA: Wake Forest University Press * ''Out of the Cold'' (1999), Newry, N. Ireland: Abbey Press * '' The Weather in Japan'' (2000), London: Jonathan Cape; Winston-Salem, USA: Wake Forest University Press * '' Cenotaph of Snow: Sixty Poems About War'' (2003), London: Enitharmon Press * ''Snow Water'' (2004), London: Jonathan Cape; Winston-Salem, USA: Wake Forest University Press * ''The Rope-Makers'' (2005), London: Enitharmon Press * ''Collected Poems'' (2006), London: Jonathan Cape; (2007), Winston-Salem, USA: Wake Forest University Press * ''A Jovial Hullabaloo'' (2008), London: Enitharmon Press * ''A Hundred Doors'' (2011), London: Jonathan Cape; Winston-Salem, USA: Wake Forest University Press * ''The Stairwell'' (2014), London: Jonathan Cape; Winston-Salem, USA: Wake Forest University Press * ''One Wide Expanse'' (2015), Dublin: University College Dublin Press * ''Sea Asters'' (2015), published by Andrew J Moorhouse – Rochdale, UK: Fine Press Poetry * ''The Dipper's Range'' (2016), published by Andrew J Moorhouse – Rochdale, UK: Fine Press Poetry * ''Twelve Poems'' (2016), Thame, Oxford: Clutag Press * ''Angel Hill'' (2017), London: Jonathan Cape; Winston-Salem, USA: Wake Forest University Press
''Sidelines: Selected Prose''
(2017), London: Enitharmon Press * ''Ghetto'' (2019), published by Andrew J Moorhouse – Rochdale, UK: Fine Press Poetry * ''The Candlelight Master'' (2020), London: Jonathan Cape; Winston-Salem, USA: Wake Forest University Press * ''Homer's Octopus'' (2020), published by Andrew J Moorhouse – Rochdale, UK: Fine Press Poetry * ''Metamorphoses'' (2022), published by Andrew J Moorhouse – Rochdale, UK: Fine Press Poetry

References

External links

* (contains a "Critical Perspective" section)
Video readings in the Irish Poetry Reading ArchiveUCD Digital LibraryUniversity College Dublin
*
Wake Forest University Press
North American publisher of Longley
Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery

Poetry archive profile and poems written and audio

Ulster Museum portrait

Audio interview by Krista Tippett

Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Emory University
Michael Longley papers, 1960-2000
{{DEFAULTSORT:Longley, Michael 1939 births 20th-century writers from Northern Ireland 21st-century writers from Northern Ireland Male writers from Northern Ireland Living people Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Aosdána members Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize recipients Costa Book Award winners Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Honorary Fellows of Trinity College Dublin Male poets from Northern Ireland Writers from Belfast 20th-century poets from Northern Ireland 21st-century British poets 21st-century British male writers 20th-century British male writers 21st-century poets from Northern Ireland T. S. Eliot Prize winners

Life and career

Awards and honours

List of works

See also

References

Further reading

External links