Irish poet Michael Longley has died aged 85.
The acclaimed poet was born in Belfast in July 1939 and lived in the city until his death.
Mr Longley went to school at Royal Belfast Academical Institution and later attended Trinity College Dublin in the 1950s.
During his college years he became interested in poetry and he also met his wife Edna at Trinity.
Mr Longley rose to prominence as a young poet that emerged from Northern Ireland in the 1960s.
Mr Longley published his first collection of poetry, No Continuing City, when he was 30.
President Michael D Higgins has paid tribute to Mr Longley, describing him as one of Ireland's greatest poets.
"I regarded him as a peerless poet with at least three poetic lives. It is, however, the generosity of his heart, and the lovely cadence of a voice of love and friendship that I will most remember.
"The range of his work was immense, be it from the heartbreak of loss to the assurance of the resilience of beauty in nature," he said.
He said it was an honour to see Mr Longley conferred with the Freedom of the City of Belfast in 2015.
"In the course of a distinguished career with the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Michael worked to support, encourage and nurture creativity in the most generous and inclusive way possible.
"May I send my deepest condolences to Michael’s wife, the scholar and writer Edna Longley, to his children and to all of his family, friends and many admirers across the world," President Higgins concluded.
In an interview to mark his 85th birthday in 2024, Mr Longley spoke to broadcaster Olivia O'Leary as part of a BBC Radio 3 series on his life.
He recalled writing poems that remembered some of those who were victims of the violence in Northern Ireland.
He said his most famous poem, Ceasefire, looks to Homer's great epic poem, The Iliad, as it reflects on the cost of peace. Other poems written in this period include The Troubles, The Ice-cream Man, and All of these People.
Mr Longley also wrote movingly about nature and landscape for over 50 years.
He was a frequent visitor to Co Mayo, which was said to be his 'refuge'.
In the West of Ireland he found inspiration to write some of his most celebrated works such as The Leveret, Remembering Carrigskeewaun, Stonechat and The Comber from his collection Ash Keys.
In later years, Mr Longley was said to have recognised the threat of climate change and expressed the hope that younger generations will take greater care of the natural world.
Throughout his career, Michael Longley received many awards including the TS Eliot Prize, the Hawthornden Prize, the Griffin International Prize, the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, the Wilfred Owen Award, the PEN Pinter Prize, and the inaugural Yakamochi Medal.
In 2022 he was awarded the prestigious Feltrinelli International Poetry Prize for a lifetime's achievement.
