Dermot Healy was an Irish novelist, playwright, poet and short story writer. A member of Aosd�na, Healy was also part of its governing body, the Toscaireacht. Born in Finnea, County Westmeath, he lived in County Sligo, and was described variously as a "master", a "Celtic Hemingway" and as "Ireland's finest living novelist". Often overlooked outside of Ireland 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, Eugene McCabe, Roddy Doyle, Patrick McCabe and Anne Enright. Throughout his career left out of the running for literature's bigger mainstream awards, Healy won the Hennessy Award, the Tom Gallon Award, and the Encore Award. 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 IMPAC Literary Award, the world's most valuable literary award for a single work in the English language, by libraries in Russia and Norway. [More at Wikipedia]

November 1st, 1947 in Finnea  /  Died:   Jun 29th, 2014