Literature

Dermot Healy

Dermot Healy was born in Finea, Co. Westmeath in 1947.

His novels include Fighting with Shadows (1984), A Goat’s Song (1994), Sudden Times (1999), and Long Time No See, (2012); his short stories are collected as Banished Misfortune (1982). His autobiography is The Bend for Home (1996), and his plays include Here and There and Going to America (1985), The Long Swim (1988), On Broken Wings (1992), Last Nights of Fun (1994), Boxes (1998), Mister Staines (1999), Metagama (2005) A night at the Disco (2006) and Where are We? (2012).

His play, Women to the Left, Men to the Right, is distilled from the oral tradition of older generations living in several border counties; it appeared at the Abbey Theatre in 2001 and was broadcast on RTÉ radio in 2002. He also wrote the screenplay for Our Boys, a film by Cathal Black.

His poetry collections include The Ballyconnel Colours (1993), What the Hammer (1998) The Reed Bed (2001) and A Fool’s Errand (2011). Other work includes After the Off, a photographic book, (1999).

He lived in Co. Sligo, where he founded and has edited the literary journals The Drumlin and Force 10. Elected to Aosdána in 1986, Dermot Healy served on the Toscaireacht from 1999 – 2002 and from 2011 to 2012.

30 June 2014
Aosdána expresses its deep regret on the death of Dermot Healy

Today, Aosdána mourns the passing of Dermot Healy, a writer of great distinction and a much loved colleague who generously served for many years on the Toscaireacht of Aosdána. A long standing member, Dermot will be remembered for his outstanding contribution to Irish literature as novelist, playwright, poet and short story writer.

Speaking about Dermot Healy, Anthony Cronin said:
“My dear friend, Dermot, was a fine man, gentle but strong and a brilliant and totally dedicated novelist and poet. He will be grievously missed as a writer, an active participant in the affairs of Aosdána and of course by his friends. Aosdána would like to extend its deepest sympathies to his wife Helen, his children and his family.”

Updated June 2014

Back to former members