The Seamus Heaney Centre joins the family and friends of Michael Longley in mourning his passing.
It was with profound shock and sorrow that we learned this morning of the death of Michael Longley. Michael was, quite simply, a colossus of poetry in the English language: a standard-bearer, a Belfast citizen whose home-from-home was the West of Ireland, and a poet whose public and intimate work spoke to audiences the world over. Everyone at the Seamus Heaney Centre extends their heartfelt condolences to his children, grandchildren, and to his wife, Edna Longley - our colleague of many years through whose efforts in no small part this centre was brought into being. His loss will be felt by all who knew him, by all those who read him, or heard him read, and by all who love and value poetry.