The Arts Council extends its deepest condolences to the family and friends of Frank McCourt, who passed away last night.
Remarking on the news, Mary Cloake, Director of the Arts Council, said: "Frank McCourt was an outstanding and talented writer, whose work reached a great number of readers and achieved critical acclaim. Unquestionably, Angela’s Ashes, his most famous work, is a stunning, affecting piece of literature that made a deep and lasting impact on its readers. Mr McCourt’s lyrical and crackling prose, coupled with his innovative approach to dialogue, exerted a significant influence on the memoir as a genre, and on literary writing more generally. Though his first book was published relatively late in his life, Frank McCourt has made a unique contribution to Irish literature and its popularisation, both in Ireland and internationally. The Arts Council wishes to express its sympathies to Frank McCourt’s family and friends, and acknowledge the writer’s exceptional life and work."