Michael Coady has died aged 84 following an illness and surrounded by his devoted family – his wife Martina, daughters Niamh and Lucy, and son James.
Michael lived his whole life in Carrick-on-Suir. He came to national prominence in 1979 when he won the Patrick Kavanagh Award and The Gallery Press published his first collection Two for a Woman, Three for a Man the following year. Gallery subsequently published Oven Lane (1987), a Poetry Ireland Choice, All Souls (1997), One Another (2003), Going by Water (2009) and Given Light (2017).
He received the O’Shaughnessy Award in 2004 and held the Heimbold Chair of Irish Studies at Villanova University in 2005. He was a member of Aosdána.
Peter Fallon, writes: Michael Coady’s compendiums of poetry, prose and illustration were unique orchestrations, often playing variations on themes of memory and mortality from an intimate anchorage of place. He could be playful and profound in his chronicles of community. His many admirers included Ciaran Carson, Bernard O’Donoghue and Seamus Heaney.
We, at The Gallery Press, will miss him sorely. We send our deepest sympathy to Martina, James, Niamh and Lucy.
We, at The Gallery Press, will miss him sorely. We send our deepest sympathy to Martina, James, Niamh and Lucy.
