Irish poet Eavan Boland has died at the age of 75.
She died today at her home in Dublin following a stroke.
Born in Dublin in 1944, Eavan Boland became known as one of the foremost female voices in Irish literature.
Her first collection of poems was published when she was still a student and she went on to have a long career as a poet, editor and teacher.
She was known for documenting women's lives, including their domestic lives, and her work also looked at the role of women in Irish history and culture.
She received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Irish Book Awards in 2017 for what was described as her art, her eloquence and her stalwart advocacy for poetry.
In 2015, Eavan Boland's poem 'Quarantine’ was shortlisted in the Poem for Ireland competition on RTÉ.
In recent years, she divided her time between Ireland the US, and was Professor of English and director of the creative writing programme at Stanford University.
Very sorry to hear Eavan Boland has died. One of our best & boldest poets, someone whose work showed a remarkable sympathy & warmth. She documented the lives of women in history & culture & explored how the difficult truth about the past can help us make sense of the present.
— Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) April 27, 2020
President Michael D Higgins described her as an internationally acclaimed poet and distinguished academic and author. He added: "It was her particular gift to reveal the beauty in the ordinary.
"Over the years, through her poetry, critical work and teaching she displayed an extraordinary ability to invoke Irish landscapes, myth and everyday experience.
"She became one of the pre-eminent voices in Irish literature, noted for the high standard she sought and achieved.
"The revealing of a hidden Ireland, in terms of what was suffered, neglected, evaded, given insufficient credit, is a part of her achievement."
President Higgins said she would be missed by all who read her work and those who studied under her.
He added: "To all of us who had the privilege of knowing her, her passing is a source of great loss and sadness.
"To her husband Kevin, their daughters and the members of her extended family, her colleagues in poetry and her wide circle of friends, Sabina and I send our deepest condolences."
We are shocked to hear of the death of Hon. MRIA Eavan Boland and our thoughts are with her family RIP. She was a pleasure to work with and is pictured below at the UN reading her poem about women's suffrage 'Our future will become the past of other women' https://t.co/n82CTzS44S pic.twitter.com/pruPMtRZMR
— Royal Irish Academy (@RIAdawson) April 27, 2020
From the RTÉ Archives
