His beautifully reassuring poem ‘Everything is going to be All Right’ brought comfort to many during lockdown and reminded us all that "the sun rises in spite of everything". This poem was featured in Bloodaxe Books' powerful Being Alive anthology and in Mahon's latest book New and Selected Poems, published by Faber. It became an internet sensation during the pandemic in a recording by the actor Andrew Scott.
Derek Mahon was born in Belfast in 1941, and lived in Kinsale, County Cork. A member of Aosdána, he received numerous awards including the Irish Academy of Letters Award, the Scott Moncrieff Translation Prize, and Lannan and Guggenheim Fellowships. In recognition of his ‘lifetime’s achievement’ Derek Mahon received the David Cohen Prize for Literature in 2007.
The Poetry Book Society was founded by T S Eliot to share the joy of poetry. Members enjoy a year of thoughtfully curated PBS poetry parcels here.