Eileen Battersby

Eileen Battersby ( Whiston; 4 June 1956 – 23 December 2018) was the chief literary critic of The Irish Times. She sometimes divided opinion, having been described by John Banville as "the finest fiction critic we have", while attracting the ire of Eugene McCabe after she gave Dermot Healy an unfavourable review in 2011. Her first novel, Teethmarks on My Tongue, was published by Dalkey Archive Press in 2016. She went on to graduate with honours in English and History from University College, Dublin, and later received an honours MA degree on American writer Thomas Wolfe. Her collection Second Readings features 52 of her reviews. She won the National Arts Journalist of the Year award four times. She also won the National Critic of the Year prize in 2012. However, others like Jon McGregor said of a critical review from Battersby of his first novel "The things she picked up on were the criticisms I’d now have – it’s overwritten, an explosion of similes, sentimentality, overdeterministic plotting. She let rip, but you felt it was coming from a proper critic."

Death Battersby and her daughter were involved in a single-vehicle accident in Oldbridge, four kilometres outside Drogheda on 22 December 2018. Both required hospitalisation; Battersby died the following day. She was 62. President Michael D. Higgins paid tribute to Battersby, writing that literary criticism had "suffered a great loss". He continued, "All of us owe her a debt of gratitude for her unstinting efforts to bring the best writers from around the world to our attention, her unflinching standards, and for the enthusiasm with which she brought her celebration of all aspects of the arts to so many different audiences." She was survived by her daughter, Nadia, her mother (Elizabeth Whiston), and three siblings. Poet Mary O'Donnell published a poem, "Elegy for a Writer", in remembrance of Battersby.