Dermot Healy Quotes

Dermot Healy was an Irish novelist, playwright, poet and short story writer. A member of Aosdána, Healy was also part of its governing body, the Toscaireacht. Born in Finea, 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 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 Dublin Literary Award, the world's most valuable literary award for a single work in the English language, by libraries in Russia and Norway. Wikipedia  

✵ 9. November 1947 – 29. June 2014
Dermot Healy: 11 quotes0 likes

Famous Dermot Healy Quotes

“I like the idea of stopping mid-sentence, like Graham Greene.”

Dermot Healy

Small talk: Dermot Healy, 2011

“I'm always fascinated by etymology.”

Dermot Healy

Small talk: Dermot Healy, 2011

“The Bible has entered much of my work as have Latin and Greek mythology and verse.”

Dermot Healy

Penguin Group (2013) A Conversation with Dermot Healy http://www.us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/long_time_no_see.html, Penguin US, accessed May 5, 2013

“Kafka taught me a lot about the normal and the abnormal, and the distance between them. […] He's out there by himself. You get the jump in the feet when you read certain passages by him. That's the mark of truly great writing. It gives you the jump in the feet.”

Dermot Healy

Sean O'Hagan (2011) Dermot Healy: 'I try to stay out of it and let the reader take over http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/apr/03/dermot-healy-interview-long-time, The Observer (3 April 2011)

“I often find poems hand written in old abandoned notebooks.”

Dermot Healy

Penguin Group (2013) A Conversation with Dermot Healy http://www.us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/long_time_no_see.html, Penguin US, accessed May 5, 2013

Dermot Healy Quotes

“I rang up this publisher and they asked me what I was doing at the time. I told them I was a house-painter, so first of all they had me come round and paint the place. Only later did they consider my work and Banished Misfortune was published.”

Dermot Healy

John O'Mahony (2000). Let the west of the world go by http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2000/jun/03/fiction.johnomahony, The Guardian (3 June 2000)

“It is a costly thing living here to fight the erosion. The sea is constantly threatening to cut into the coastline and sweep all this away. Every year we have to haul stones up here to repair the damage and plug the holes. It's a full-time job.”

Dermot Healy

John O'Mahony (2000). Let the west of the world go by http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2000/jun/03/fiction.johnomahony, The Guardian (3 June 2000)

“I'm no good at dinner parties. I feel very uneasy at them.”

Dermot Healy

Small talk: Dermot Healy, 2011

“I know writing is what I do but I still don't see myself as one.”

Dermot Healy

Small talk: Dermot Healy, 2011

“Without the reader there would be no writer.”

Dermot Healy

Small talk: Dermot Healy, 2011

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