Irish writers held in high regard
Ships are named after them - The LÉ James Joyce is one of four Irish Naval Service offshore patrol vessels. The 900-ft long ships have extra long hulls to provide more space for weapons and better handling capabilities in adverse weather conditions, especially off the Wild Atlantic Way. Source - US Naval Institute.
The Big One
The winner of the 2026 Nobel Prize for Literature will be announced this Thursday, October 8 in Sweden. It’s been 30 years since an Irish writer won the written word’s highest honor.. And it’s not likely you’ll wake up Thursday morning to the news that the Irish have won another Nobel.
Just for fun, since you can bet on anything these days, what are the odds an Emerald Isle writer might win the big one?
Not good. Ladbrokes, a betting service in London, has established Colm Toibin and Sebastian Barry at 25/1 to win this year. As for the likely winner. It's someone only readers in China and World Lit majors have heard of. Can Xue is the current favourite to win, with betting sites pricing the Chinese author at 10/1 according to Ladbrokes. But this isn’t the Word Cup. It’s not the kind of contest that stirs nationalism. It’s not a competition.
Having said that, a win for Xue would give China its third Nobel for Literature. Ireland has four. France is Number One with 19. The U.S. has 9. Ireland is punching above its weight with a foursome of winners
Poet William Buter Yeats in 1923, playwright George Bearnard Shaw in 1925, playwright Samuel Beckett in 1969 and poet Seamus Heaney in 1995
Ireland is so proud of its native Nobel Literature Laureates that it cements the memories of them with multitudes of memorials. For Yeats the Abbey Theater. For Shaw the National Gallery of Ireland. There’s the Samuel Beckett Bridge across the Liffey in the shape of a harp lying on its side. Seamus Heaney is buried in St. Mary’s Church in Ulster (along with two Hunger Strikers).
Then there are the work horses of the fleet of the Naval Service of Ireland: four 300 foot long offshore patrol vessels built with elongated hulls especially for severe weather conditions. They are named in honor of renowned Irish literary figures, lead ship Samuel Beckett and younger sisters, William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw and James Joyce. Click here for the Journal article.
James Joyce, great as he was, never won any major literary awards, much less the Nobel. So, why is one of the patrol vessels named after him instead of Seamus Heaney?
Controversy? Of course
What writer wouldn’t want a ship named after him? (Or her. There are plenty of women writers in Ireland.)
The only conceivable explanation I can come up for Heaney not being so honoreed is that he himself or one of his heirs objected to an armed ship bearing his name. The film director Neil Jordan condemned the naming of weaponized vessels after Ireland’s literary heroes. But there’s no record of any objections from Clan Heaney in Ulster.
Whatever the case, you have to ask yourself: What kind of nation names the biggest ships in its feet after famous writers? The same nation that would use a musical instrument as its national symbol.
Will another Irish writer ever win a Nobel?
That’s a prohibitive long shot. Keep in mind that of the 122 Nobels for Literature recipients since 1907, only 29 come from countries where English is spoken. (The Nobel competition can rightly call itself the WORLD Series.) So this generation of Irish writers will have to be overachievers.
At least they’ve got a better shot, according to the bettors, than Stephen King and Margaret Atwood at 50/1. Click here to check the odds on several writers, including Thomas Pynchon.
Book Talk is coming back
Hibernian Ed Curtin is recruiting readers for the evening of November 19 to share their favorite examples of Irish and Irish-inspired writing at Kells Restaurant Downtown. Open mick night, if you will.. Would your reading be from one of these four writers? Send Ed an email and sign up. Curtine@peak.org.
Seamus Heaney is the only one of the four Irish writers with Nobels who. lived his entire life on the island of Ireland. First in Co. Derry then in Dublin. He’s also the only Catholic laureate.
Irish not British
Two of the four Nobel Laureates were exiles from Ireland and aren’t buried there (Shaw and Beckett) and two were born in Ireland but assubjects rather than citizens (Yeats and Shaw). Only Heaney (the only Catholic in the lot) lived his entire life in Ireland – born in Derry and died in Dublin.
When his work was included a British anthology he wrote the following:
"An Open Letter":
Don't be surprised if I demur, for, be advised
My passport's green.
No glass of ours was ever raised
To toast The Queen.