Seamus Deane

Seamus Francis Deane (9 February 194012 May 2021) was a Northern Irish poet, novelist, critic, and intellectual historian. He was noted for his debut novel, Reading in the Dark, which won several literary awards and was nominated for the Booker Prize in 1996.

Early life Seamus Francis Deane was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, on 9 February 1940. He was the fourth child of Frank Deane and Winifred (Doherty), and was brought up as part of a Catholic nationalist family. Deane attended St. Columb's College in his hometown, where he befriended fellow student Seamus Heaney. He then attended Queen's University Belfast (BA and MA) and Pembroke College, Cambridge (PhD). Although he too became noted for his poetry, Deane chose to go into academia instead. He worked as a teacher in Derry, with Martin McGuinness being one of his students. McGuinness later recalled how Deane was "gentle, kind and never raised his voice at all, an ideal teacher who was very highly thought of".

Deane was a member of the Royal Irish Academy and a founding director of the Field Day Theatre Company, together with Heaney, Tom Paulin, and David Hammond.

Works The first collection of Deane's poetry, Gradual Wars, was published in 1972 and received the AE Memorial Award for Literature. His first novel, Reading in the Dark, was published in 1996 and was partly autobiographical. Rumours (1977) History Lessons (1983) Selected Poems (1988)