'Irish Times' literary editor dies unexpectedly

CAROLINE WALSH, the literary editor of The Irish Times, has died unexpectedly. She was 59.

Ms Walsh joined the The Irish Timesas a journalist in 1975 and remained with the newspaper for her entire career, holding a number of senior editorial posts. She had been literary editor since 1999.

She was married to teacher and novelist James Ryan, and they had two grown-up children, Matt and Alice. She is also survived by her sister, the poet Elizabeth Peavoy.

Her other sister, Valdi MacMahon, died just over a year ago.

Irish Timeseditor Kevin O'Sullivan paid tribute to her yesterday, describing her as a pioneering journalist who played a central role in the development of the newspaper for more than 35 years.

“Caroline’s work, whether as a writer on women’s issues in the early 1980s, as features editor or as literary editor, was notable for its intelligence, its vigour and, above all, its sense of purpose,” he said.

"She had a passionate commitment to outstanding journalism and good writing. She ensured The Irish Timescelebrated new literary talent and introduced readers to important voices from outside the English-speaking world.

"She had a strong and vibrant Irish Timesgene," he added.

"She also set a gold standard within the paper and among her colleagues for accuracy and integrity, embodying the spirit of what The Irish Timeshad been in the past and what it aspired to be now and in the future."

He added: "Unfailingly generous to colleagues and especially supportive of younger journalists, Caroline will be missed most terribly by everyone at The Irish Times. Our thoughts and our deepest sympathy are with her husband, James Ryan, and their two children."

Born in 1952, she was the daughter of the noted short-story writer Mary Lavin. She graduated from University College Dublin with a master's degree in modern English and American literature. She joined The Irish Timesshortly afterwards as a news reporter.

In 1983, Ms Walsh became editor of the Our Times page, which covered issues affecting women’s rights. From the late 1980s until the early 1990s, she was features editor and had responsibility for the daily features pages, as well as the Weekend Review supplement.

She returned on secondment to the newsroom for a period in the late 1990s to reshape the newspaper’s news coverage outside Dublin as regional news editor.

She became literary editor in 1999, enhancing the newspaper’s reputation for literary criticism by increasing the number of pages devoted to books, championing emerging Irish writers and ensuring attention was paid to foreign writers translated into English.

Ms Walsh's Loose Leavescolumn also contained an insightful commentary on publishing. Her book, The Homes of Irish Writers, was published by Anvil Press in 1980. She later edited three collections of Irish short stories.

Former editor of The Irish TimesConor Brady said Ms Walsh was "one of the brightest, most creative and most energised of the many journalists" he had worked with in the newspaper.

“She loved the paper. She cherished the people who made it, from her treasured panel of critics to the craftsmen [in the days of printers and compositors] who made up her pages, to the switch operators, to her newsroom colleagues,” he said.

“In turn we cherished her. An editorial conference lit up when Caroline was in ‘ideas’ mode. She delighted in any day’s success – when we might have an ‘exclusive’ or if there was a particularly good photograph for page one. Conversely, if fortune ran against us, the day’s disasters were written across her face.”

Paul Cullen, father of the National Union of Journalists chapel at The Irish Times,said Ms Walsh would be greatly missed by her friends and colleagues.

"Caroline was always generous, considerate, thoughtful and attentive to the needs of other colleagues. She embodied the best of The Irish Times, and not just because she was on the staff for more than 35 years," he said.

Her funeral Mass will take place tomorrow morning at the University Church, St Stephen’s Green, at 10am, with burial afterwards at Mount Jerome, Harold’s Cross.