Michael Longley facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Michael Longley CBE
Longley reading his poetry at the Corrymeela Peace Centre near Ballycastle, County Antrim, July 2012
Born	(1939-07-27)27 July 1939 Belfast, Northern Ireland
Died	22 January 2025(2025-01-22) (aged 85)
Education	Royal Belfast Academical Institution
Alma mater	Trinity College Dublin (TCD)
Notable awards	Whitbread Poetry Prize T. S. Eliot Prize Hawthornden Prize

Michael Longley (born 27 July 1939 – died 22 January 2025) was a famous poet from Northern Ireland. After he passed away, the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, said Longley was a "peerless poet," which means he was an amazing and unmatched poet.

Life and Career of Michael Longley

Michael Longley was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was one of two twin boys. His parents were from England.

He went to school at RBAI. Later, he studied Classics (ancient Greek and Roman history, language, and literature) at Trinity College Dublin. While there, he was in charge of a student magazine called Icarus.

From 2007 to 2010, Michael Longley was the Ireland Professor of Poetry. This is a special job for a poet that crosses the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Before him, other famous poets like John Montague held this role.

After teaching for several years, he worked for the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. He was a director there from 1970 to 1991. The Arts Council helps support art and culture.

For over 50 years, he spent a lot of time in Carrigskeewaun, a place in County Mayo, Ireland. This beautiful area inspired many of his poems.

His wife, Edna, is also well-known. She is a critic who writes about modern Irish and British poetry. They had three children together. Their daughter, Sarah Longley, is an artist.

Michael Longley's Famous Poem 'Ceasefire'

In 1994, Michael Longley wrote his most famous poem, 'Ceasefire'. He wrote it hoping for peace between the IRA and loyalist groups. Amazingly, a ceasefire happened just one day after the poem was released!

The poem uses a story from an ancient Greek epic called the Iliad. In that story, King Priam begs the warrior Achilles to return the body of his son. Longley used this ancient story to talk about the need for peace in his own time.

In 2014, Longley took part in a BBC Radio 3 series. He read his poetry for the Irish Poetry Reading Archive (UCD).

Michael Longley's twin brother, Peter, passed away around 2013 or 2014. Longley dedicated the second part of his tenth poetry collection, The Stairwell (published in 2014), to his brother.

Michael Longley died on 22 January 2025, when he was 85 years old.

Awards and Honours for Michael Longley

Michael Longley received many important awards for his poetry.

• His book Gorse Fires (1991) won the Whitbread Poetry Prize.
• The Weather in Japan (2000) won both the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Hawthornden Prize. It also earned him the first-ever Yakamochi Medal in 2018.
• He received special honorary degrees from Queen's University in 1995 and Trinity College in 1999.
• In 2001, he was given the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.
• He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2010.

In 2011, Longley won a London Award for Art and Performance. His collection A Hundred Doors won the Poetry Now Award in September 2012.

His 2014 collection, The Stairwell, won the 2015 International Griffin Poetry Prize. In 2015, he also received the Ulster Tatler Lifetime Achievement Award. He was given the PEN Pinter Prize in 2017. The head judge, Don Paterson, said that Longley's poetry was full of "humanity, humility and compassion."

In 2015, Michael Longley was made a Freeman of the City of Belfast. This is a special honour given to important people in the city. In 2018, he became an honorary fellow of Trinity College.

List of Works by Michael Longley

Longley reading his poetry at the Corrymeela Peace Center in Ballycastle, Northern Ireland, July 2012

• Ten Poems (1965), Belfast: Festival Publications
• Secret Marriages: Nine Short Poems (1968), Manchester: Phoenix Press
• No Continuing City (1969), London: Macmillan: New York: Dufour Editions
• Lares (1972) Woodford Green, London: Poet & Printer
• An Exploded View (1973), London: Victor Gollancz
• Fishing in the Sky: Love Poems (1975), London: Poet & Printer
• Man Lying on a Wall (1976), London: Victor Gollancz; (1977) New York: Transatlantic Arts
• The Echo Gate (1979) London: Seeker & Warburg; New York: Random House
• Selected Poems 1963–1980 (1981), Winston-Salem, USA: Wake Forest University Press
• Patchwork (1981), Dublin: The Gallery Press
• Poems 1963–1983 (1985), Edinburgh: The Salamander Press; Dublin: The Gallery Press; (1987) Winston-Salem, USA: Wake Forest University Press
• Gorse Fires (1991), London: Seeker & Warburg; Winston-Salem, USA: Wake Forest University Press
• Baucis and Philemon: After Ovid (1993), London: Poet & Printer
• Birds and Flowers: Poems (1994), Edinburgh: Morning Star
• Tuppeny Stung: Autobiographical Chapters (1994), Belfast: Lagan Press
• The Ghost Orchid (1995), London: Jonathan Cape; (1996) Winston-Salem, USA: Wake Forest University Press
• Ship of the Wind (1997), Dublin: Poetry Ireland
• Broken Dishes (1998), Newry, Northern Ireland: Abbey Press
• Selected Poems (1998), London: Jonathan Cape; (1999) Winston-Salem, USA: Wake Forest University Press
• Out of the Cold (1999), Newry, Northern Ireland: Abbey Press
• The Weather in Japan (2000), London: Jonathan Cape; Winston-Salem, USA: Wake Forest University Press
• Cenotaph of Snow: Sixty Poems About War (2003), London: Enitharmon Press
• Snow Water (2004), London: Jonathan Cape; Winston-Salem, USA: Wake Forest University Press
• The Rope-Makers (2005), London: Enitharmon Press
• Collected Poems (2006), London: Jonathan Cape; (2007), Winston-Salem, USA: Wake Forest University Press
• A Jovial Hullabaloo (2008), London: Enitharmon Press
• A Hundred Doors (2011), London: Jonathan Cape; Winston-Salem, USA: Wake Forest University Press
• The Stairwell (2014), London: Jonathan Cape; Winston-Salem, USA: Wake Forest University Press
• One Wide Expanse (2015), Dublin: University College Dublin Press
• Sea Asters (2015), published by Andrew J Moorhouse – Fine Press Poetry
• The Dipper's Range (2016), Rochdale, UK: Andrew J Moorhouse, Fine Press Poetry
• Twelve Poems (2016), Thame, Oxford: Clutag Press
• Angel Hill (2017), London: Jonathan Cape; Winston-Salem, USA: Wake Forest University Press
• Sidelines: Selected Prose (2017), London: Enitharmon Press
• Ghetto (2019), Rochdale, UK: Andrew J Moorhouse, Fine Press Poetry
• The Candlelight Master (2020), London: Jonathan Cape; Winston-Salem, USA: Wake Forest University Press
• Homer's Octopus (2020), Rochdale, UK: Andrew J Moorhouse, Fine Press Poetry
• Metamorphoses (2022), Rochdale, UK: Andrew J Moorhouse, Fine Press Poetry
• Canticle (2022), Rochdale, UK: Andrew J Moorhouse, Fine Press Poetry
• The Slain Birds (2022), London: Jonathan Cape
• Birds & Flowers (2024), Rochdale, UK: Andrew J Moorhouse, Fine Press Poetry

See also

• List of Northern Irish writers