Arts Council Chair Prof. Kevin Rafter said: “Her death represents a huge loss to literature, and to the arts in Ireland. Her work will continue to inspire readers and artists for generations to come.
“ I was fortunate as an undergraduate student in the late 1980s to participate in a number of extracurricular workshops Eavan delivered in Trinity College, Dublin. She was an engaging teacher, and someone who was very generous with her time and feedback.”
Arts Council Director Maureen Kennelly said: "Eavan was one of the most influential voices writing anywhere. She was editor of Poetry Ireland Review for the last three years and I and my colleagues there gloried in our connection with her. She was beguilingly direct, frank, funny, energetic and no-nonsense.
"Her voice has humanized many of this country’s old tragedies. We would all be poorer without that elegant voice shining a light on forgotten and ignored voices. She honoured those who have been outside history, writing them back in, and enabling them to find a voice.
"She wrote beautiful tender poems about motherhood – Nightfeed is especially beloved by new mothers. She made it her life’s work to open up the literary culture, sifting it with feminist ideas and making it less enclosed.
"Her fine poems have assured her a place in the galaxy of the world’s great poets. We send our deepest sympathies to her beloved family."
Eavan Boland served as a member of the Arts Council from 1993 to 1998.
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