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Brave author Siobhán loses cancer battle
 By
TrevorO’Sullivan
Heart-felt tributes have been paid to a budding second-generation Irish
author who lost her battle with breast cancer.
During her short career writer Siobhán Dowd had notched-up tremendous
success and had the literary world at her feet.
The 47-year-old, who was born to Irish parents in London, had recently
been selected by a panel of leading publishers to be one of Waterstone’s
25 Authors of the Future.
Ms Dowd died on August 21 after a three-year battle with breast cancer.
A private funeral and burial took place on August 31 at St. Margaret’s
Church, Binsey, Oxford.
Husband Geoff Morgan spoke of how his former wife’s extreme courage
had always been an inspiration.
He said: “There are no words in the English dictionary to describe
how dreadful I feel. Her bravery was immense and I am presently inconsolable.
“However, I know her spirit is now looking down on me and making
sure that I am going to survive this ordeal.”
Earlier this year Ms Dowd told The Irish Post how her Irish background
had been a massive influence and inspiration in her writings.
She said: “I grew up in London but spent all my childhood summers
in a dilapidated old cottage in Aglish, Co. Waterford.
“I spent summers playing there with all my Irish cousins. Those
are the voices that inspired my stories. The Irish part of what I am is
a very important part of who I am.”
Ms Dowd’s best-known work was her teen/adult crossover book A Swift
Pure Cry, which tells the story of a pregnant girl in Ireland in 1984.
The novel won the Eilís Dillon award in Ireland for a debut children’s
author, was nominated for the Guardian Children’s Book Prize and
was short-listed for the Booktrust Teenage Fiction Prize and the Waterstone’s
Children’s Book Prize.
She had also recently been short-listed for the 2007 Carnegie Medal and
the 2007 Branford Boase Award for first-time authors.
Her publisher David Fickling said he had been honoured to work with such
a talented writer.
He said: “She was a person and writer of immense humanity, warmth
and ability, just coming into the full measure of her talent.
“She made words sing for her. She had been waiting all her life
to write as she had now been writing.
“We are lucky to have four brilliant books, and we cannot help thinking
that is not enough. We are honoured to have published her work.”
The Siobhán Dowd Trust, to which all proceeds from her literary
works will be signed over, is currently under construction.
Details about the trust and how to make a donation will appear on her
website www.siobhandowd.co.uk. |
