17 Facts About Seamus Deane

Seamus Francis Deane was an Irish poet, novelist, critic, and intellectual historian.

Seamus Deane was noted for his debut novel, Reading in the Dark, which won several literary awards and was nominated for the Booker Prize in 1996.

Seamus Francis Deane was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, on 9 February 1940.

Seamus Deane was the fourth child of Frank Deane and Winifred, and was brought up as part of a Catholic nationalist family.

Seamus Deane then attended Queen's University Belfast and Pembroke College, Cambridge.

Seamus Deane worked as a teacher in Derry, with Martin McGuinness being one of his students.

McGuinness later recalled how Seamus Deane was "gentle, kind and never raised his voice at all, an ideal teacher who was very highly thought of".

Seamus Deane was a professor of Modern English and American Literature at University College Dublin until 1992.

Seamus Deane subsequently relocated to the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, as the Donald and Marilyn Keough Chair of Irish Studies, from which he retired as professor emeritus.

Seamus 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.

Seamus Deane was the co-editor of Field Day Review, an annual journal of Irish studies.

Seamus Deane served as general editor of the Penguin Classic James Joyce series and of Critical Conditions, a series in Irish Studies which was jointly published by the University of Notre Dame Press and Cork University Press.

Seamus Deane co-founded the book series Field Day Files, which contained key works by David Lloyd, Joe Cleary, Marjorie Howes, and Kerby A Miller.

Seamus Deane was in a civil partnership with Emer Nolan until his death; they had one child together.

Seamus Deane died on 12 May 2021 at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin.

Seamus Deane was 81, and suffered a short illness prior to his death.

Seamus Deane was the general editor of the monumental Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing, which was 4,000 pages long and whose first volumes were released in 1990.