William Trevor

The Irish author William Trevor (1928-2016) was born in Mitchelstown, Cork. He studied History at Trinity College Dublin, but initially pursued a career in sculpture (under the pseudonym Trevor Cox), book editing, and advertising, starting work in 1954 at an advertising agency in London, while simultaneously beginning to write short stories. He made his literary debut in 1958 with the novel "A Standard of Behaviour," which he later refused to reprint, considering it a juvenile work. His second book, "The Old Boys" (1964), earned him recognition and the Hawthornden Prize. He went on to write 17 more novels, often revisiting his native Ireland from afar to explore themes of tension between Catholics and Protestants, memory, and loss through the personal and introspective journeys of his characters: "The Boarding House" (1965), "The Love Department" (1966), "Mrs Eckdorf in O'Neill's Hotel" (1969), "Miss Gomez and the Brethren" (1971), "Elizabeth Alone" (1973), "The Children of Dynmouth" (1976, Whitbread Prize), "The Distant Past" (1979), "Other People's Worlds" (1980), "Fools of Fortune" (1983, Whitbread Prize), "Nights at the Alexandra" (1987), "The Silence in the Garden" (1988), "Two Lives" (1991), "Felicia's Journey" (1994, Whitbread Prize and adapted into a film by Atom Egoyan), "Death in Summer" (1998), "The Story of Lucy Gault" (2002), "The Dressmaker's Child" (2005), "Love and Summer" (2009). He also published short story collections, from "The Day We Got Drunk on Cake and Other Stories" (1967) to "Angels at the Ritz and Other Stories" (1975), "The Hill Bachelors" (2000), and volumes "The Collected Stories" (Viking, 2009) and "The Selected Stories" (Viking, 2010). Additionally, he wrote six plays, a children's book ("Juliette's Story," 1992), and an essay ("A Writer's Ireland: Landscape in Literature," Thames & Hudson, 1984). His novels were shortlisted four times for the Booker Prize (in 1970, 1976, 1991, 2002), the last time with "The Story of Lucy Gault," and once longlisted for "Love and Summer" (2009). Among his other accolades were the title of CBE in 1977, the David Cohen Literature Prize from the Arts Council for his lifetime achievement in 1999, and a knighthood in 2002. William Trevor consciously chose a quiet life away from the spotlight, living in rural Devon, frequently traveling to Ireland and Italy in the summer, and engaging in gardening and his favorite sports such as rugby, cricket, and tennis. "The work of literature does not need support to stand on its own," he used to say, avoiding the media. He passed away in his sleep in the early hours of November 21, 2016, at the age of 88. Statements on his passing were made by authors John Banville, Anne Enright, Colm Toibin, Joseph O’Connor, Kevin Barry, Yiyun Li, John Boyne, Donal Ryan, and Roddy Doyle, as well as the President of Ireland, author Michael D. Higgins. Higgins, considering that his passing "is a loss for all English-language literature."