Born in Enniscorthy in 1928 and educated at Blackrock College in Dublin, Anthony Cronin was the author of 14 volumes of poetry, two critically acclaimed novels, a brilliant memoir entitled 'Dead as Doornails', as well as biographies of Samuel Beckett and Flan O’Brien.
During his long writing career, Cronin was the editor of The Bell, penned a column for the Irish Times called ‘Viewpont’ from 1973 to 1980 and, in more recent years, he wrote a poetry column for the Sunday Independent.
“Tony Cronin was a rare example of the public intellectual in Irish life — committed, fearless, rigorous in his thought, and unashamedly forthright in his advocacy of what he thought right and good,” says Sheila Pratschke, Chair of the Arts Council.
"Appalled by the penury faced by so many senior Irish artists in their later years, he persuaded then Taoiseach Charles Haughey, to whom he was cultural advisor, to establish Aosdána, an independent affiliation of artists which recognises significant achievement by artists in all disciplines.
"He served from its inception on the Toscaireacht, the steering committee, of the organisation. He was conferred with the high honour of Saoi by that body in 1993, joining among other luminaries Samuel Beckett, Seamus Heaney, Sean Ó Faoláín, Mary Lavin, Tony O’Malley and Brian Friel.
"Unfailingly courteous and generous in his dealings with others, and particularly kind to emerging younger writers, Cronin held himself to the highest standard in his literary production. The poems were ever and always at the heart of his work, being unashamedly modernist in their rigour, sometimes bleak, but always forgiving and always passionately humane.”
Also paying tribute, Sunday Independent editor, Cormac Burke said: “Anthony Cronin was a poet and philosopher; he was an intellectual powerhouse of the 20th Century. One of the must influential culture figures in modern Ireland, he was a regular contributor to the Sunday Independent across three decades, including his popular weekly poetry column.
“It was an honour to have him continue to grace the pages of the Sunday Independent and we will be proud to publish his final selection for that column this Sunday. Our deepest condolences to his wife Anne and daughter Sarah – and his many colleagues and friends.”