Tipperary poet Michael Coady dies aged 84

Michael Coady, the poet and short story writer, has died at the age of 84.

Mr Coady’s death, which followed an illness, was announced by The Gallery Press on Monday. He was surrounded by his family when he died, the publisher said in a statement.

Mr Coady lived most of his life in Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary.

He first announced himself as a literary talent in 1979 when he won the Patrick Kavanagh Award, a prize for emerging Irish poets.

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The following year, Mr Coady published his first collection of poems, Two for a Woman, Three for a Man.

Mr Coady went on to publish several other collections, including Oven Lane (1987), All Souls (1997), One Another (2003), Going by Water (2009) and Given Light (2017).

He was honoured with the O’Shaughnessy Poetry Award in 2004, an accolade bestowed by the University of St Thomas, Minnesota in recognition of “outstanding Irish poets”.

[ Poem: The Loneliness of Flesh by Michael Coady ]

In 2005, Mr Coady was Heimbold Chair of Irish Studies at Villanova University, Pennsylvania, a teaching role held on a yearly basis by distinguished Irish writers.

The late poet was also a member of the Aosdána.

Peter Fallon, Mr Coady’s lifelong editor and publisher, said that poets Ciaran Carson, Bernard O’Donoghue and Seamus Heaney were among the late poet’s admirers.

“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,” Mr Fallon said.

“We, at The Gallery Press, will miss him sorely.”

Mr Coady is survived by his wife Martina, daughters Niamh and Lucy and son James.

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